Day 13

Well today we went down a cistern (a place water was kept) that was found previously in the house of TK. I honestly didn’t think that I would be able to make it down without an anxiety attack, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Since the opening was so small, we had to use a rope ladder. The rope ladder reminded me of a game at the state fair, the game where you have to climb a horizontal rope ladder at a slant to ring a bell without falling off or spinning over. Down in the cistern it was very hot and humid and the walls were covered in a plaster that was red which tells us that this was used in the roman period. It was really very neat. The second half of the morning, both groups finished their tasks and I believe tomorrow we both start new rooms, which I’m not looking forward to. New rooms mean new dirt. New dirt is harder and heavier. I enjoy the easier dirt of course!

Day 12

Today we probed a corner in a room of the house of TK. We originally thought that there might be a mosaic floor since we were finding so many tesserae, but it was a no go. However we did dig until we got to bedrock. I was really hoping that we would find something substantial, and or important, either way this experience has been amazing, and I honestly think I will never manually work this hard ever again.

 

Day 9

 We had the best weather today for digging. There was a great breeze and clouds in the sky. Don’t get me wrong it still was hot, but a nice change. Today we basically tackled rock after rock, so I didn’t take before and after pictures like I had said. I will leave that for tomorrow. However, I did get a picture of all the rocks!!!!! John’s group has been working on a room in the house of TK, and got to the floor which happens to be plaster and has a ton of tesserae. Tesserae are little square pieces of art used to make mosaics. Usually the elite, wealthy people had the art which decorated their structures.  While the big manly men were working on the rocks in Darryl’s group Suzie and I went to help sweep up the layer of dirt on the plaster floor in the house of TK. The room should be done by breakfast tomorrow.  Sweeping is kind of a tedious job so Suzie and I are going to be bringing up our music. Watch out John you have two women who love to sing and are tone deaf and can’t carry a tune, but what’s important is that we will be having fun!

 ***** My computer wont allow me to upload the rock picture. I will have to do it tomorrow. SORRY

 

 

Day 8

Well we got Jim Jim back up at the dig site Hooray!!! Today I worked my little booty off, and my eyes were burning from the sweat dripping in them. However I had my ear plugs on and the second half of the dig went really fast. We moved a ton of rock, one which I had been working on since Sunday. It’s really boggles my mind on how the people from the Byzantine and Umayyad periods made these structures. By no means am I trying to belittle them, but it’s truly incredible! The last few days, as we were cleaning up, Darryl the team leader, always says “wow we moved a lot of dirt”; and every day it makes me feel good knowing that I helped and contributed to that. I may not be the strongest person out there, but I’m a fierce one. I will start to take before and after pictures, so you out there are able to see the progress for yourself!