East Again

We are fully into the swing of surveying here at Shimron. Last week we dug a couple small (1x1m) test pits, 30cm deep to see what sort of pottery there is across the Tell. I got to do a couple of those, but most the week I was part of the “Reconnaissance Survey,” where we measure out 10x10m squares across the whole tell, and for 10 minutes collect all the pottery we can find on the surface. There were about 400 of these squares, and we had two teams of four, but we got it done by the end of Friday! Yesterday we had off, and I just stayed at the kibbutz to read and relax. Today, two teams dug some larger and deeper test pits, but I was on the magnetometry team. Elise taught us how to use the magnetometer, and how to set up the measuring tapes in grids. The Magnetometer measures the magnetic pull of the ground beneath it. This way, if you have something underground, like a wall, it will show up because it causes the ground in that area to have a different magnetivity. That’s what I ...

I made it to Tell Shimron! Today was our third day of Surveying. Our first day was a bit rough, we ran into multiple problems. For one, all the "benchmark" markings from last year had worn off, so we had to try and set them again with the GIS Station. That allows us to know right where we are on the tell, and set up an accurate grid. Now that we are in the swing of things, we are able to survey quite a few of the grids in a day. Each grid is 20x20m, but we only do reconnaissance survey on 10x10m of each grid. This means that for 10 minutes we walk over the area and collect any pottery on the surface. We begin at about 5:15, and take a breakfast break at 9:00. After lunch at 1:30 we wash pottery, and the professors and archaeologists read it. Reading pottery means they go through and determine what time period is prominent etc. It is amazing to see how well they know pottery, and how they can tell from a tiny sherd what it used to belong to. Our first day was extremely h...

Today I had to say goodbye to dear JUC and the remaining students and Dr. Wright and Diane. It was a good morning though, Liz treated me like a Queen, and baked us cookies! We had Mac and Cheese for lunch, with Avocados and peppers. Then we made fresh squeezed lemonade. We played some card games, and went to Teddy Park with Moriah, where we ran through the fountains and got thoroughly soaked! After showers and hanging our cloths out to dry, we drank lemonade in the garden for a while and talked. It was nice, but quite hard to drive off and leave it all. I am at the airport now, and just met up with my professor. It feels odd to be in Ben Gurion Airport and not be heading home yet! I have a feeling it will be hard not to miss home a lot this next month and a half, but it will work out, I'm sure. I'll try and update again after we get to Shimron and start our routine there!

The Semester is over! Finals are done, and our last Field Study completed. For the last few days I've been on campus in Jerusalem, helping out with short term groups in exchange for room and board. It was sad to say goodbye to almost all the friends I'd made this semester, and to see campus filled with new people. Still, it has been a good time, and I know a few people from Wheaton's group who is here. It has been so nice to have more down time, and to hang out with the few students who are still here. We've done some fun stuff, like spend a day going to archaeological sites in the Old City, and trying out new restaurants for lunch etc. A couple days ago, four of us went to Beit Jalla to watch a basketball game. One of the MA students here plays on the team, and another MA student is their coach, through Athletes in Action. It was fun to finally get to go see them play, and they even were playing against Wheaton's Basketball team! We took the buss to the West Bank b...

Today is Orthodox Easter, and the first day after Passover week. Last night I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with several other students to observe the proceedings. We arrived just before midnight, when all the services commenced. We stayed for a bit watching the Greek orthodox ceremony, but it was quite crowded, there were cameras and lots of tourists taking photos and videos. We decided to see if we could find the Ethiopian chapel, and see their service. One of the doors in the quart yard which was usually closed was open, because inside they had the computers and electronic equipment for recording the event. There were several guys sitting in there manning the computers, but they didn't say anything as we walked by and went up the stairs. We found ourselves on the roof, looking down to the quart yard bellow. We could hear the Ethiopian service nearby, and after maneuvering around some scaffolding we got to a rooftop where we could look over the Ethiopian service. At on...