2007

Today was another day of digging. The day began like every other day by moving rocks. Today was different because instead of moving rocks from the A corridor we moved them from the E corridor. The street team appreciated the help because there are a lot of rocks that need moving. There were only 3 areas open today due to the loss of team members. The three areas were the E corridor, the two areas C squares and the A squares. The E team found a lot of street today and we think that the street is relatively intact despite what we found in E8. We hope to uncover more intact street tomorrow. The C squares were a wealth of pottery today. They had a couple of full buckets of pottery by the end of the day. They also found a doorway that leads to the south which means more excavation to the south of the church complex. The team in the A squares found a very small room apparently the size of a sarcophagus which leads Dr. Schuler in suspecting another tomb.
The use of the room found in the A squares is still unclear and will remain that way until the team is able to dig a little deeper. Who knows what lies to the south of the church complex maybe it is the lost residential area, only more digging will reveal its secrets. The street is also a big question because who knows if the street is still a wreck or if it was just E8 that suffered massive destruction. That is about all that happened today. We have church tonight which is always a nice way to begin a week. Peace.

Hey Folks, I must confess that I, THE Kevin FitzGerald, am exhausted. I know many of you did not think I showed any signs representative of the physical abuse we have received since we arrived, but yes, even Kevin can be pushed to his limit. Haha, Just Kidding! All day yesterday and today I worked in the Cardo de Amore (a.k.a. the tunnel of love) clearing all the way down to the street. We cleared 5 meters of the street in 2 days, thanks largely to Kristina and Matt who worked their tails off the whole time. It will probably take us most of next week still to clear all the way down to the Pit of Despair, but we are making excellent progress. The C5 crowd worked on taking down the baulk covering the wall at the edge of their square. All I have to say about this crowd is Arny is a freeking tractor. They did great work all day today. The A4 peoples have walls coming out right precisely where they didn't expect them. Its OK, they are rolling with it and taking it down layer by layer. The F0 group is likewise making great progress, they even found another coin today. Sweet stuff! Professor thought that he was going to close their square today, but they are doing such a great job he decided to let them keep going next week. The dirt certainly flew this week, but tonight we have to say goodbye to 5 of our esteemed companions. Jake, Becky, Fred, Janet, and Jim are all leaving us. We will certainly miss them both on the job site and around the kibbutz. Except Fred, I wont miss him because he keeps telling me to "shut up" in his Australian accent and pointing his finger menacingly at me (says Kevin sarcastically)…. Seriously, these guys have all been a blessing to work with and we are sad to see them go. Tonight Kristina's friend Laura is arriving, which is exciting. Equally exciting is the fact that I will be sleeping through lunch tomorrow. Thats always fun. Until next time… Peace, Love and Puppies, Kevin

Today saw another day of digging for the CSP crew. In all honesty, this was a surprise to most of the team as it almost never happens this way. Or we do it every day. One of those two.

C4 continued digging out the floor, but their supervising arachnid was absent. Nonetheless, some interesting finds were uncovered, including a piece of marble that has unknown origins.

C3 worked on exposing the wall on their East side, and that's about it for today.

The area formally known as the Pit of Despair has now been renamed to "The tunnel of Love" or "The Tunnel of Hope" depending on whom you ask. Several meters of the remaining rubble have been removed, and that team is working as hard as ever. The Good Doctor himself spent most of his day in this area shifting dirt. Go Dr. S!

Lastly, tonight is the last night for five members of the team, and thus it will be spent at least partially in the pub. Goodbye to Fred, Becky, Jake, Jim and Janet. Your humor, hard work, and great attitudes will be missed.

Those words ring out every morning at 4:45 in the parking lot while waiting for the bus to arrive. This morning began with more rock moving and clean up. The E8 team from yesterday was reassigned to various squares. The A4 square found a wall and the other side to the easterly apse of the church. That team found lots of glass, pottery and Pastor Jim apparently found a throne on which to sit and turreah. The F0 team found lots of unfortunate things today. Among these things were modern metals and assorted nails. The team also found some encouraging things such as several pieces that came probably from one pot, glass, and bone. The C4 team found a supervisor today. Their little friend checked in on them from time to time and even joined them in their square. This friend just happened to be a scorpion. C5 encountered many walls and were not allowed to pickax and turreah. Thus they had to trowel around the stones but some of them admitted that it gave them a break from the rigorous digging. Finally the old Pit of Despair was done over by a tractor that obviously came from God. The 4 squares are on the outskirts of the current exposed church trying to find the extent of the complex. The F0 team found a couple of modern items which leads Dr. Schuler to believe that it was disturbed by a tractor and the IDF. The other teams found walls that they believe to be assorted hallways and other rooms on the outside of the complex. The interpretations of the walls and corridors exposed by today's digging are a bit unreliable because we have no idea of what lies further down in the dirt. The walls could be part of the urban monastery complex or adjacent buildings. Only time and a lot of dirt will give up these secrets. Today was another good day of digging and with our team at its largest we hope to make one last big push before we say goodbye to 5 of our teammates. Thats all for now… Matt

Dear Friends, I must confess that my friends and I working over in the Pit of Despair began to lose all hope for E8 today. After squaring off the POD (pit of despair) we began searching for the nonexistent pavement we were sure to find at the bottom. Instead of pavement we found a layer of caked mud. We were positive that the pavement was UNDER the muddy-gravely-stuff. It wasn't. We had fun. If only Bob were here… Other squares were likewise interesting. Linda's square C5 really got trucking after the infamous Arny of the Net (like cargo as opposed to the inter variety) began working. They found a wall cutting their square ruffly in half. Jim's new square A4 is trucking along the outside of that wall. They found a bunch of roof tiles we had to clean today at pottery washing. Thanks, Jim. We all appreciate it. F0 is likewise continuing to expose part of a wall. Thats Lynn's department. There was a great deal of excitement when they found a good size iron bar about 10 cm down. Too bad it was modern. Sorry folks. Inside the big tent Susan and her crew continue to expose the mosaic. Jess is having O SO MUCH FUN drawing it all. Piece. By Piece. By Piece. HAHAHAHAHA. Well we got a big crew working this week, and dirt is certainly flying. We got a lot of things going… it's fun… Your Bro in Christ, Kevin