Day 24-26

Okay, its been 3 days since my last blog. Monday and Tuesday absolutely wiped me out. I went to bed each night right after dinner at about 7:00 pm. For some reason those two days were more exhausting that usual. So here's the high-lights . . .

Monday, found about 15 more loom weights in my square! One was a monster compared to the others. Most are about the size of a baseball. This one was the size of a grapefruit. We also found one about the size of a ping pong ball. It's loom weight-palooza!

Tuesday . . . we found one more. Today . . . none.

We are processing layer by layer through our destruction debris. Our field archaeologists believe that we have been processing the material from a roof top that fell down when the walls collapsed. We should be finding MC (material culture) from the second floor tomorrow. We have two stone pillars in our square that we have been slowly excavating. They are about 18" square and we have exposed about 4'. They are probably 6-8' high.

Another interesting note about the archaeology process . . . When we excavate we only take about 10 centimeters down at a time across the surface of the entire square (5 m x 5 m). However, since we are on a slope, we have to create a flat/level surface as we go. Not sure if that makes since. Any way, we stop when we notice change in soil color or texture or density. These changes are noted and then elevations are often taken and pottery baskets (buckets) might be changed so that pottery coming out of the new area will be in different baskets (since they are in a different matrix). Differences in soil color, texture, density, etc. can be caused by several factors . . . rubble (like what we were digging through the first 10 days in parts of our square), destruction (charred mudbrick, mudbrick that has disintegrated, etc.), a pit that has been dug years (or centuries) later that the original home and it has intruded upon the space of the home and then filled with junk (rocks, pottery scraps, animal remains, etc. This puts later material on the same level as earlier material, and thus has to be discerned and noted. Otherwise it looks like a person living at the time of the Iron Age (13th-6th century BC) had pottery and items that belongs in the future (for example Persian era 538 BC-332 BC or Greek era 332-143 BC).

Also, frequently we have to sweep our dirt. I kid you not. We have to sweep our dirt and remove loose dirt. Do you know how hard it is to sweep dirt off of dirt? It's pretty funny. Also, I never knew dirt could have so many different colors. We have had blacks, grays, yellows, oranges, tans, etc. One guy from another square told me they had green. They have something called the Munsel Charts (sp?) which is basically a book with color charts. Looks like it was put together at the paint department at Sherwin Williams (superior products at amazing prices; there's a distributor near you! http://www.sherwin-williams.com/ (how's that for a shameless plug for you Jeff!)

I've been skipping 2nd breakfast since Day 11. It just isn't worth the hassle of walking back down and then up the hill, plus . . . it's too weird to be eating sandwiches for breakfast. It has provided me, however, with about 30 minutes to myself up on the hill. The scenery is amazing . . . looking down the hillside to the beautiful groves of olive trees and other orchards . . . the kibbutz lined with amazing beaugonvillas in a rainbow of colors, the sun peaking through the early morning clouds, the breeze gently blowing across the hillside . . . it's quite relaxing. I fell asleep again this morning during this breakfast break!

Which brings me to today's fun event . . . it was bound to happen . . . I was just surprised that it didn't happen earlier. I rolled my ankle. It happened just before fruit break (11:00 am) so I got to work most of the day (only missed the last hour). I had just taken a wheelbarrow run and was stepping down into my square on the sandbags that we use as steps . . . I'm not sure what happened . . . missed the edge of the sandbag? . . . the sandbag gave way? . . . not sure, but the end result is that I went down hard. I've severely sprained the ligaments in both ankles years ago in highschool and college (running, basketball, volleyball, walleyball . . . look it up) so my ankles have a propensity to roll easily. They say these hurt worse than breaks. Not sure if that's true or not. I only had to have my ankles put in cast twice. I'm pretty sure I won't require that for this one.

Talk about a dilemma . . . up on a hillside about a 1/4 of a mile up a pretty good steep pathway and having a sprained ankle. Some of my colleagues who were looking after my best interests had some good ideas . . . put me in a wheelbarrow and push me down the pathway (thanks!) . . . put me in a wheelbarrow and push me to the dump and then dump me over so that I'll slide all the way down the hill in soft (yet rocky) dirt (thanks!). I ended up hobbling over to the upper parking lot and having a car come pick me up about 30 minutes later.

I have had it elevated for most of the afternoon and watched movies on my laptop (Transformers . . . thanks Stockwell for leaving it in my car back in April when we BBQ-ed all night; and Young Guns . . . an '80s classic . . . Charlie Sheen, Emelio Estevez, Keifer Sutherland).

So, we'll see about tomorrow. My square supervisor is encouraging me not to come tomorrow. I sure want to come . . . hate to miss anything, you know. At the same time, I wouldn't mind sleeping a bit late and I sure won't miss hiking up the hill with my assigned 60 lbs. of gear on my back. On the other hand, that means someone else has to do my job. On the other hand, I don't want to be in the way and more of a liability than an asset . . . hmmmmm?

I know right now my mom is typing out an email to me giving me her opinion! Thanks, mom!

We've only got 3 dig days left (tomorrow, Friday, and Monday). It's make or break time for us if we're going to find some interesting things.

Well, I'd better close things down. I know I haven't posted pics from this last weekend. If I don't go to the tel tomorrow, I'll get that done.

I surely miss all you guys back home. I miss all you guys in our Bible study groups (thanks for taking care of Steph these last few weeks . . . getting the dryer fixed, mowing the yard, etc.), I miss you guys at school . . . ready to see y'all pretty soon, and of course, I miss my family . . . Steph and Madisynn . . . only 9 more days! (Of course y'all will be out of town at Kids Camp when I get back), but I'll be ready to see y'all when y'all get in!)

That reminds me . . . anybody from HNW available to pick me up at the airport Friday, July 25th? :)


Shalom!

Trey