Today’s finds include a marble mortar, a metal pendant, broken part of a grinding bowl. In this video, Darryl demonstrates the proper technique for getting a big rock UP and out of a square.

Following is the basic 3 step process of Hippos archaeology for those of you tuning in at home wondering what we actually do here.  Please read carefully, and save all questions for the end. 

Step one: Use pick axe to loosen a layer of dirt.  (The boys in my group stated this as their favorite part of digging because it makes them feel “manly.”)

Step two: Use a turreah to shovel the dirt into buckets.

Step three: Transport the dirt by hand to the dump pile and… you guessed it, dump it out!

There are, of course, some other things involved such as picking up pottery sherds and other small finds like glass or bones; we take water breaks, fruit breaks, and even, on occasion, popsicle breaks, and there are many many big rocks to be moved during the course of the morning’s work, but here you see that in just a few steps, we slowly uncover more of this church complex at Hippos, really just one bucket of dirt at a time.  

Now you may ask any questions. 

My fellow blogger Andrea, her husband Cameron, and Assistant Director Christina Neumann joined us for dinner a couple of day before we left for Israel.  Andrea was wearing a pair of shorts very similar to a pair I had recently purchased for the dig.  So here we are in our fraternal twin plaid shorts from Target (that’s pronounced tar ZJAY).  Can you tell who is twenty-something and who is old enough to be the other’s mother?

Darryl gives instructions to the Hippos diggers about the right way to lift.  He has a way with words and movement.

So far, so good!  Group 1 left Thursday morning from Minneapolis, connected with 4 people from 2 other cities in Philadelphia and were welcomed in Tel Aviv by 4 early arrivals: Rachel from Seoul, S. Korea (a returning volunteer), Will and Eric, who are first-timers and part of the LARGE contingent from Concordia, Irvine, and Arny, seasoned veteran of 4 years from St. Louis.  The Irvine group arrived about an hour later.

I had another whole day at home and got lots of stuff done!  At the airport Kristina mentioned that her arm hurt from the tetanus shot she’d gotten the day before.  TETANUS SHOT! Oops!  I had forgotten to get that task on a list.  So I spent an hour and half on Thursday at a walk-in clinic to get one.  Thank you, Kristina!  The doctor asked what kind of degree I had to go on an archaeological dig.  I told her the truth: I have a doctorate but am going as unskilled labor.  

I’m writing from the Philadelphia airport.  Six of seven of us are here by our departure gate; Anna is due in from O’Hare shortly.  Perhaps another day I report on “lucky Carl” and the first leg of our journey!  No internet connection from here, so I’ll have to wait until I get to Israel to p …

At that moment, I heard a voice say, “Dr. Schuler!”  I looked up, and there was Anna, whose flight got in early.  We all had a safe and uneventful trip over the pond by air and up to the Galilee by taxi.