In a fragment of a small glass flask (?), we see two faces staring at us.  It is the Roman god Janus. Janus is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year. He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions. These heads were rumored to look both into the future and the past.

Our Janus is somewhat hard to see in this photo.  One face is looking to the left:

In the corner NE of ZZ99 it sits.  We can see it from the side, but most of it is in the baulk.  It is a large above-ground plastered basin . . . some sort of water feature.  But exactly what is uncertain.  Ideas?

The Concordia Team is hard at work at Hippos of the Decapolis.  Take a look at our excavation area:

Working in four teams, the Concordia dig crew has been making good progress at the start of the excavation season.

One team is working on the southwest corner of a colonnaded building.  They have reached a depth of 3 meters in the square and should start exposing floor in a day or two.

See their progress here:

A crew working with Dr. Chambers has already discovered the line of a small street (Cardo 4N) that may form the eastern boundary for the Northeast Church compound:

The 2010 dig team has arrived safely in Israel and has moved into their quarters at Kibbutz Ein Gev.  Today is orientation day . . . a tour of the dig site and neighboring sacred sites (Beatitudes, Tabgha, Capernaum, Kursi) along with organizations meetings.  Tomorrow at 4:45 we are off to work.