I Know You're Good...

So I must apologize because I have only been telling you about half of my trip. The entire reason that I am visiting the Holy Land is because of the dig, and my blog has not shown much about the thing that consumes most of my time here. I hope that you already have some idea of how the dig started out with the “reservoir” (I use quotation marks because it most certainly is not a reservoir), but so much has changed since the first few days at the site. We started to dig on a Tuesday with pick axes and terias (hoes), speedily working in order to reach the bottom of the “reservoir,” six meters below, within our time frame. I now know how ridiculous this sounds. I have learned so much about the culture here, but I have also learned so much about the people with whom I have been working.
I knew that archaeologists use educated speculation, but I believe that my dig supervisor at the time has forgotten the educated part. Termite means well and has plenty of dig experience dating back to the sixties, but he lacks the formal education that the professors have. I now know that there is absolutely no way that the site could be a reservoir for reasons that you probably don’t want to spend your time reading. By Thursday we reached the bed rock, beneath only two feet of heavy, compacted soil and rocks. Was this the bottom of the “reservoir?” Either way, we were reaching the bottom of something, so we opened what is called a critical locus.
Now I must take a little time to explain some archaeology. A locus is any layer within the square that we dig. It has a beginning and ending elevation, and there can be multiple loci in a square. We start digging in what is known as a surface locus, and we can change loci depending on the soil color change. Each loci receives a specific number so the artifacts in any given locus can be registered and recorded properly. When we start to reach the floor or bottom of the square we open a critical locus, in which case, digging becomes very slow and meticulous. We ended Thursday in the middle of sifting gufas (buckets) of soil in the hopes of finding an artifact that was missed in the square.
Later that afternoon, Collins and I were notified that we were being transferred to a new area: the tomb. After digging without any big finds with a supervisor who constantly talks to himself, we were finally going to have some excitement. Apparently, Collins and I were a hot commodity, as we could move a lot of dirt in a hurry and reach the bottom of a “reservoir,” tomb, or whatever. If it wasn’t enough that we were going to dig in a tomb, our new dig supervisor was the best that anyone could ask for, Byron.
Now for some more archaeology. When I say that we were digging in a tomb, I don’t mean that we were excavating in the sense of discovering and removing human remains, as exciting as that sounds. Proper burial is extremely important in Jewish eyes, especially for the orthodox and even for those who died two thousand years ago. If word got out that we were opening graves a protest would ensue and/or the IAA would shut down the entire dig. We dug in a portion away from the actual burial chamber which no longer contained human remains anyway. Our objective was to reach the bottom of the tomb in a small one by four meter probe. We didn’t find many artifacts, but then again, we weren’t expecting to. After digging with “all deliberate speed,” as Byron often puts it, we reached the floor of the tomb.
Remember how our Jerusalem trip almost didn’t happen because we were supposed to work at the site on that Saturday? Well, the non-Wofford members of the dig team stayed in Galilee and cleaned up an area that is thought to be a grape press. Of course, when they did not finish, it became our responsibility to clear the site. Aside from removing heavily compacted soil out of the collection vat in the stone ground for the grape juice, we also had to brush the entire area clear of dust and dirt. Sometimes I think that archaeologists simply aren’t practical. With the proper tools (i.e. shovel and leaf blower) this three day process could have easily been completed within half an hour. I often joke that just since we’re digging up artifacts from the first millennia doesn’t mean that we have to use tools from that time period.
Now on to the interesting digging. The “reservoir” and tomb are located on the northern side of the tel of Khirbet Qana, and either site does not contain many signs of occupation. Our new site would be at the very top of the hill where a Roman and Byzantine house once stood. The terms Roman and Byzantine do not refer to those who occupied Khirbet Qana, just when it was occupied, during the Roman and Byzantine periods. We know that Jews lived at our site during the Roman periods, but a big question that we have hanging over our heads is who lived there during Byzantine times. The house that we are now excavating in has been inspected many times during the previous years with multiple other squares. Our new assignment was to excavate the eastern baulk of square twelve in field one.
Again we would be working with “all deliberate speed” to reach the floor of what would be a hallway or small room as we could see a door jam and small step at the bottom of square twelve that was uncovered nine years ago. The first day or two were slow as they usually are, while we dug through the top locus which is usually very thick, dark, and clay-like. The roots of the plants at the surface don’t make our task any easier. After a few days of good finds, pottery shards, glass…the usual, we opened a locus that had many intact pieces of vessels. Full handles and parts of rims, sometimes both in the same shard, would surface one after the other as we slowly dug with our trowels. One day we filled two buckets of our pottery, and fairly large pieces of glass started to appear as well. I even uncovered the base of a glass goblet with part of the stem still attached.
Now this was more like it. I finally started to feel like we were doing real archaeology, and suddenly the horribly bumpy ride up the tel in the back of a truck seemed well worth digging at our new site. We then soon reached what appeared to be the base of a wall or the start of a stone platform. Because of the new structure dividing our square, we had to separate into two loci, one to the north and one to the south. I usually worked on the northern side were the stairs and the door jam led. I have been determined for the entire trip to find a coin, and I was sure that I would uncover one when I reached the floor. My heart sank as the metal detector remained undisturbed while being waved over my locus. Oh well, there could still be a beautiful mosaic floor underneath the few centimeters of earth. Nope. After a few more hours’ work, I brushed away the last remaining dust on the simple, cobble stone floor. Not the find of the century, but I was the first person to set foot on that floor in over one thousand years.

Sorry that I don't have pictures. I'm having a little trouble getting them onto my computer. I will definitely add them when I get home.