Half way there............

Days 15, 16 and 17

Everything is cruising here, actually not much has changed at all. So maybe a different post is need for the half way point in my dig!!

The huge pile of rocks and dirt that we have moved so far....

~ I am no where closer to knowing what direction I want to go but my eyes have been opened since beginning the dig. I am making contacts that hopefully I can use as guides as I start to better understand my options for later down the road.

~I have learned that maybe the area I am more interested is in a little more recent history. Then again maybe not, I just don’t know.

~ I don’t totally hate the physical labor involved in archaeology I do enjoy being outside working, its kind of like gardening.

~ I also am not totally stoked like other people about finding artifacts, I am more excited to imagine the person using it so long ago. I like to picture the women using the pots to cook and store, the men making tools out of flint to feed their families. I like to imagine the children running freely in the area in and out of the stone houses. Not really a surprise now that I think about it I don’t look at the artifacts in an objective fashion but through my imagination of what they would have done with them. (In case you were wondering that doesn’t make the best archaeologist)

~ I have soooo many more places I want to visit in the world, maybe India is my next big adventure. (for very specific reasons and that will be a later post)

~ This is for me but where I fit I still don’t know BUT I know I will figure it out! Maybe I’ll make my own place!

day 14

On day 14 we rested!! Except this weeks rest included green olive pizza (my fav) and cheese cake geilatto!!! Then we watched 10 things I hate about you! What a day!!! But i can really apperciate 2 day weekends now these one day ones kinda stink!!!

dig a tunnel dig dig a tunnel.....

Days 11,12 and 13

Just how dirty i get.....

Well Being…

It was bound to happen but I didn’t expect it to happen in one day… I got overly hot, dehydrated and a sunburnt all on the same day. I am better now but I was one tired girl. Emotionally I am doing better I sat myself down had a harsh talk and decided that I was the one who wanted to be here and it was time to act like it!!! So mornings are getting better!!!



The dig…

Well, we have things in our square which now look slightly promising as a structure, not a wall but maybe a ring…. Just on Friday we moved almost 10cm of dirt in our 5 meter by 5 meter square. We sift everything we remove as well so its actually pretty impressive.

The tools i use the most

gloves~ small pick~dust pan~brush~bucket

Personal finds and lessons

My find of the week was a nest of eggs created from mud with maggots living inside them. It was really cool but with no archaeological meaning just fun to find.

We had two lectures this week and let me tell you listening to these people who are so educated and passionate about their are of expertise is amazing!!! I find myself loving bones, flint, pottery and the study of looting, every time I am around these people!!!

Cow mandible

Pile of bones waiting to be cleaned.....

Can you dig it, i can dig it....

Day 7, 8 and 9




Well being

I am doing well, mornings are hard for me but I am dealing. Food wise I’m doing too good I believe. The food is full of carbohydrates. For first breakfast which I don’t eat is bread and nutella or jam, cheese cucumber and tomato sandwiches for 2nd breakfast, Lunches are at a restaurant that services first pitas with several small salads to eat with it then a main course with meat and potatoes rice or noodles the afterwards coffee and cakes, then for dinner I eat my leftovers from lunch. WOW and I don’t have a scale to see how my weight is doing so I may come home with my clothes being a little tight… but you all know how I love potatoes.



The dig

Well, things are moving slowly but that is how it seems to go. We have moved fro the big pick and shovels to trowels, small picks and brushes. We still haven’t found any architecture in our square and from what I understand the hopes of doing so are becoming more slim. We are however finding artifacts in are square and some pretty neat ones.

Basalt pot

Personal finds and lessons

A sign here in Karmeil

Well I found a cow jaw bone with the teeth still attached, I also found a piece of flint with some tar like residue on it which apparently comes from Turkey and was an interesting find all the way up here.

Well outside of the dig there is continuous talk about degrees careers schools professors etc and I am learning SOOOO much. This is the main reason I came on the dig to see if this was for me and to gain direction to what I want to do. I am however more confused than when I started because of the mass amount of information I am gaining. The best thing I’ve learned is I’m not alone most of these people here are in the same boat!!

The goats that graze in the field where we are working

and on the 6th day

she rested!!! ohhhh sleep you are so good! Shabat is from friday night till saturday night here and everything shuts down, including me apparently but the day of rest and relaxation was needed. On sunday we start digging again............

Ain't no mountain high enough........

There are moments in life that can and do get passed up because of laziness or being scared today I could have passed on one of those experiences BUT I didn’t!!! With 2 guys from my group I strapped on my running shoes and ran up a mountain trail in this crazy Israeli heat. The trail was a little rugged and the thorns here in Israel are unforgiving, but with a small amount of walking (okay maybe more) I made it to the top and had the most incredible sense of accomplishment. I could have stayed in my room sleeping after getting up at 4 in the morning and digging till 12, but I am truly glad I didn’t and hope that I will continue to not pass up opportunities like this. Special thanks goes to the guys who could have left me in the wind but slowed their pace so I could join!!!!

Behind my shoulder is the college where I'm staying and where I started the run!

My friends standing at the top looking over Karmiel the town we are staying in.

A view from the trail!

just keep digging, just keep digging

Day 3, 4 and 5


Well Being

I am really showing signs of not being an 18 year old; I take pain meds at least twice a day. My back really hurts my lower and upper on my right side. Otherwise I am doing fairly well. Moral has been low for me until today, I miss the girls and Ryan like crazy and am in a small group were there is lots of arguing and bickering. My patience is running thin. But I still have normal people in the group that have been very supportive of the fact I deal with 2 teen’s every day.

Bruise on my forearm!!

The dig

Right now is slow going for our group we have yet to find architecture in our square and other squares have a real bummer. Now we have removed a good portion of the top soil and should be getting in to more interesting layers. Today we found rocks lots of rocks which makes for very hard digging and removing of the stones. We have finally hit a point where it’s not all back breaking labor but sifting through every bucket of soil looking for artifacts.

My square and those piles of rocks are probably nothing :(

sifting through over 100 of buckets

We are a little over a foot down!

 

Personal finds and lessons

Today I found the side of a pot as well a grinding stone. Thursday night we received a lecture from our group leader and I learned so much and left the lecture excited about the dig as well as understanding why we are here.

Most of my lessons have been personal; patience and understanding are big ones. For everything I learn about archaeology I am learning something more about myself. Most of all that I am proud of who I am the way I got here as well as my husband and children. I have realized these things through social interactions here telling my story and realizing I have nothing to be ashamed of!

DIG DIG DIG......

Day one and two

Well being

WOW, first of all this is one extreme experience, I am sitting here trying to move as little as possible my body hurts. My muscles are exhausted my body bruised and blistered. Our living arrangement are amazing we are staying in dorms each with our own room in an apartment. 3 bathrooms and 2 showers for every 3 people and a washer and dryer downstairs. All meals are provided. It is hot but the mornings are nice and there is usually a slight breeze.

My view at night.....

The dig

Right now we are digging in a very rocky area situated between to groves of olive trees. The first two days we have been removing first off the top layer of rocks and second the layer of topsoil about a foot of it, which has been at one time plowed so everything is mixed together. As we dig we are removing pieces of flint ad well as pottery chaloithic as well as roman. Then we come home and rest until the afternoon when we wash pottery, what we find is soaked and then we scrub it with brushes.

Personal finds and lessons!

Today among other things I found 3 inch axe head made of flint as well as a pottery chunk about 4 inches that was the side as well as part of the bottom of the pot. I also caught a scorpion no screaming or anything it was less then 2 inches long but man it was pretty cool to be brave enough to catch one. (we needed to remove it from where we were digging)

The scorpion

So here are a few terms…

Balk (spelling)- the space between two squares that are being dug so people or wheelbarrows can cross.

Pick axe- a tool used by archaeologists loosen large areas of dirt created by SATAN.

Beach..........

So on Saturday I took the day off and it went like this..................................................aaaaahhhhhhhhh.......

Buildings in Jerusalem....

So I am positive that I could spend my whole trip in Jerusalem and still not have enough pictures or understand the city enough. Everything has so much to say, the people who on my first trip I noticed are so diverse and I had so many questions on which they were, why they were here. Even the tourist I wanted to ask what brought them to Israel. But this post I want to give a little credit to the buildings, the city is old, it looks old and that is what makes it beautiful.

These Buildings are built from older buildings that were destroyed the numbers tell where they are from.

Jerusalem

Today we went to Jerusalem, it was an amazing experience. It was like I'd pictured it an old city with lots to tell you, market places full of people from every walk of life. RULES lots of rules and different rules for different parts of the city... here are a few pictures then I'm going to bed and will hopefully post more tom.

The Western wall

 (you can't tell but all those people are backing up because that's how you get away from the wall)

The market

There are 2 parts to the market the Jewish part and the Arab part most of my pictures are from the Arab just by chance.

(this is my favorite picture)

I'm HERE!!!

Well I made it and the jet lag was rough. If i e-mailed you or called you I am so sorry for the negativity I realize I am blessed to have this opportunity. I never realize jet lag could psychically make you sick, it did and I just ate for the first time in 2 days and feel like a new person! so here are a few pictures from my day of firsts!!!

My first Falafell!!

The view from my friends apartment it Tel Aviv!

Here are a few note worth things....

I got a phone here and you can call me through skype on it for like 13 cents a minute!!!!

I forgot my camera (it was cruddy but at least it was a camera) so im using my iphone

Drivers here are crazy

They have Coke Zero

Children and animals are allowed to pee or poop on the sidewalks... anywhere on them...

6 days...

and I am very nervous! I am using today to go buy the last of what I need and get errands done and begin packing! I also need to read some more! I keep saying to people "I hope its good" translation I am to nervous to think about it to hard and I am completely out of control right now so these are the only words that will come out besides.....

"I am scared, I am scared, I AM SCARED"

It isn't a new emotion to me I don't have problems doing new things but i am uncomfortable doing them alone! I have found myself wishing i knew at least one person but that is just part of the experience! I also deal with leaving my family by not thinking about it, its how i dealt with it before you just do it don't think about it, so I am sure i seem cold to some people but its how I deal ! Well of i go to run errands and pack!