(Photos to Follow)
How do you imagine it would be to work on a dig? Many might think they give you a shovel and bucket, point to a hill, and say good luck. No way. Here one is not only carefully supervised, but there is a great effort to provide on-going instruction throughout the day on the process of archeology: how to survey and measure and what to look for in the striate layers in the ground as we keep digging. It is a great example of project-based learning—you dig, you learn.
Today one of the other groups working on the new ground area discovered what could either be a floor to a habitation or a wall. It is just a layer of stones, but if it is a floor then that will help to date everything found above or below that floor. Each layer of civilization that builds upon the previous can be carbon dated and this helps to put what is found at each level into a context.
So what have we found? What did I accomplish today?
Our group has been going layer by layer with the heaviest digging of the three sites because our area has meters of packed earth and is on multi-levels. We have found pottery shards, bone, and stone formations. We have also uncovered a mud wall to one of the towers adjacent tot the gate. A large green gauze overhang that filters the direct sunlight protects us; nevertheless, the work is extremely dusty (we each have a paper mask to cover our nose and mouth) and hot.
One of the joys is our fruit break. Each day at about 11:30 AM different fruit is delivered and the 20 of us share some melons or plums in the shade. Ali takes great pleasure in slicing the melons and handing out a luscious piece to each of us. Everyone gets one slice, but he gave an extra half to the several guys who are over 50 in our group. He made up a funny reason for each of us to be so privileged, and we all had a good laugh.
This morning a teen strained her ankle falling on some shaky and worn sandbags that form steps going down to the dig from the top of the rampart. I spent most of today filling burlap and plastic sandbags and placed a double layered, wider breadth trail that will be much easier for everyone to maneuver, especially since we all carry equipment up and down the dig. Towards the end of the day I requested the teen to follow me, showed her the path, and asked her to try it out. She skipped up to the top, and I said we would name the path in her honor. She laughed and made my day.
I asked Hal how it looked, and he deadpanned that I have found a new calling. Thanks, but I think I will keep my day job.
