First off, square “ZZ99” indicates one of the many surprises in the NE church complex. When “the other Dr. Schuler” (that is, the archaeologist, not the blogger) first laid out the grid for the church in 2002, he thought row A1 was as far east and north as he would need to excavate. NOT!
Rachel’s team of Cheeseheads (all hail from Wisconsin) worked and worked and worked in square ZZ99. Here they are on a break, from left to right: Rachel Hedberg (returning volunteer from Seoul, S. Korea); Ellie Bach from Concordia, Irvine; Anna Fink from Concordia, St. Paul; and kneeling in front, Emilie Bach, sister of Ellie.





“Gosh!” you’re probably thinking, “I didn’t know everyone had to wear hardhats to dig.” You’re right. Everyone doesn’t—just the “lucky” women of ZZ99, who had to dig and dig down three, yes, THREE METERS (that’s over 9 feet)! Below are the Bach sisters (they have such great musical talent, one wonders if they’re related to JS himself) smiling UP for the camera.





When they found the top of the door jam on Monday of week 2, it confounded Dr. Archaeology Schuler because the door opened the opposite way he predicted. It took them another two day (a total of nine dig days) to find the threshold at floor level:





I think they missed this spectacular sunrise from Wednesday morning because they were deep in their pit:




Ellie and Emilie and everyone from Irvine (plus Heidi, Colleen, and Tina), we miss you already!