It was a rainy winter this year in Israel. That is good. The Sea of Galilee has risen 3 meters. However, so much rain has left the dig site full of weeds, grasses, and brush. It will take several days to clear this material (there are only two of us) before we can start scanning. Lots of hot and hard work.
I am settling in at Kibbutz Ein Gev getting ready for the 2019 season. Helping me this summer during the first two weeks will be Rob Schrader, a third-year student from Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne. Dr. Michael Dorner will return to work with us during the last two weeks.
We visited the NIP this morning. The generous rains this season (the Sea of Galilee is up some 3 m since January) have yielded an abundant crop of weeds and brush across the NIP. So, we will spend the first couple of days just in brush and growth removal.
I also took Rob today to Kursi, Capernaum, and Tabgha. There is a partially reconstructed basilica at Kursi and a fully rebuilt one at Tabgha. These will help Rob “picture” what we will document this year at Sussita.. The shorebird above is from the north transept at Tabgha.
I was last at Sussita in January of 2019 with a group of students from CSP. I am excited to return later this week to study our work on the Northeast Insula Project. A slower pace will allow for more observation and reflection. I will post updates here on a regular basis.
With the assistance of Robert Schrader and Dr. Michael Dorner, I will begin a study season of the Northeast Insula Project at the Hippos Excavations on Sunday 30 June. Originally this season was to be the first month of a sabbatical year, but the sabbatical has been postponed. Nonetheless, during this field season we plan to re-document the site using a BLK360 laser scanner. My particular interest is to re-examine and determine the exact sequencing of the surviving structures in order to refine the history of the NIP. I intend also to do significant writing about the site that will become part of the final report.
Travel to Israel begins this week.
