2013

Boom, we saw the floor

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Day 3

Today started off really slow. I was sore, tired and hungry, three things that usually do not sit well for me. As the day was wearing on it started to become better, we were hauling more and more dirt. Then about halfway through the day, BOOM, we saw floor AND the bottom of the column. We believe that we had so much rock fall due to an earthquake. This totally makes sense to me.  Darryl the team leader and JimJim (I did not type his name twice, that’s his name) both found nails, and we found some sort of a coin, which at this time we are unable to accurately date.   We hope by day 5 we will have the entire floor exposed. The dig really starts to become exciting when you begin to uncover and find things; it really helps the days go by fast.

The nail

 The floor

 

Rocks rocks and MORE rocks!!!!

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Day 2

Today was our first full day of actual digging. My team and I are in charge of excavating a certain part of the dig site, which we believe to be some sort of a room.  We spent all day filling buckets of dirt and exposing rocks to haul off in an attempt to get to the floor. During this process we found a few small animal bones, shards of glass and pottery. I found a small broken glass base to a bottle which Dr. Schuler believes we can use to help get us more accurately date the site. Another interesting find was a part of a column that was used as part of a wall. (Back in the day people would use what they could find to help build a structure) I even saw my very first scorpion, which I killed after naming him Lyle.  To be honest (which I always am) today was really difficult and draining. I have not done this much physical labor at any time in my life and I’m extremely sore. However, I do have to say that clearing all the rocks and seeing how much work we got done today was really rewarding. I had a little bit of anxiety when we were exposing the rock, but our team handled it very well in addition to working together to accomplish a similar goal. The best part of today I would have to say is getting a bottle of wine, a plate of grapes, going to the beach with good people, and watching the Sea of Galilee while having amusing and wonderful conversations!

 

The piece of class
Before Picture

 

And I thought hot yoga was difficult

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Setting up

Day one:

Today was the first adventure to our Hippos excavation; we woke up at 4:15 am and were out to the bus by 5am. The bus took us up about 90 percent of the way up to Mount Sussita where our team spent the first half of the morning getting everything set up.  When I say everything I mean weeding, cleaning up rocks, and setting up the overhead tarps.  While the strong and wonderful men were doing their thing, Suzy (my adorable roommate) and I helped to clean up the eating area which is on site.  The eating area is an old IDF building (Israeli Defense Force) where the doves like to gather and poo; it was filthy, nasty, disgusting and every other word that you can think of! Why we decided to volunteer for the cleaning is beyond me. Nonetheless we cleaned our little hearts out. I was pretty much gagging and Suzy kept reminding me to stop thinking about what we were cleaning. Needless to say when breakfast was served, Suzy and I ate outside overlooking the dig site.

The second half of the dig we learned the correct way to use tools, lift and work like a dog. Well, I thought hot yoga was difficult, and I thought wrong! Every half an hour we took a water break and switched up our jobs. There are a few different jobs, picking (which is used to loosen up the dirt,) using a turreah (which is similar to hoe), wheel barrowing, and more! By the end of our work day, I was dripping sweat, sore, tired and extremely hot.  Do you think I’m excited for tomorrow? Well I am! BRING IT ON!

Introduction to Andrea

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Hello!!! My name is Andrea Thomes and I’m s student at Concordia University Saint Paul campus. For part of my Hippos dig I’m taking a class, and one of my assignments is to fill you in on the excitement and findings that will be taking place this summer. I’m going to be blogging from MY point of view, Please note that this is my VERY first time on the dig, and blogging for that matter!!! I will be blogging every day, so please watch for my first post tomorrow!

Here is a picture of me:

My husband and I.

The Dig Begins

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The Beta Building
The Beta Building

After the winter rains that raised the level of the Sea of Galilee to near normal, the dig area for 2013 is quite weedy. In several places fragile sections of walls have fallen down. This is the scene that will greet the Concordia Team tomorrow morning at Hippos of the Decapolis. After some cleaning and setting up of screens, the work of discovery begins.

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