Day 12 brought more progress. We finished the eastern part of the Northern building and significantly discovered a doorway to the north from an earlier structure.
In the west, we reached what seems to be mud floor in the northerly section. The taboun in the south may have pottery from the Mamluk period, indicating that it is a later intrusion.
Finally, a photo of Emily and Arny working on the taboun.
The composition of our team has changed a bit with the departure of the Canadians and the arrival of David Kluth. All work is in the North Building. On the east side, the team is approaching the floor and discovering tools for processing grains (a grinding bowl and a round metal implement.
In the west, we started to excavate the taboun, while the rest of the team took the northern section to a deeper level.
In the east section, we recovered some nine nails and more blocks of tesserae. Bet we remain uncertain about the walls. The so-called floating wall sees to not be so.
In the west section, the bench seems to be a shelf (if at all), and the floor level near W540 rises up a small step about a meter north of the wall. With this rise is a seeing stylobate aligned with the column in W540.
In the internal corner between W2156 and W2153 is a taboun of approximately 90 cm in diameter.
The two newly open areas began to reveal themselves today. To the east, we see W2154, but also another wall parallel to W540. We think it might be a floating wall (W541) seen early in the excavation (2004).
To the west, the building seems to be divided into two rooms by a central wall. To the south of that wall is a bench, we think.
We end with a photo of an oil lamp recovered from the bench.
Touring often accompanies the archaeological work at Hippos. Our tour this morning was exceptional.
Based on a report from the Haifa team, five of us struck out across the valley north of Hippos searching for a possible ancient monastery marked by a single block of limestone inscribed with a cross. We searched widely across the neighboring valley and hillside until we came upon the badly eroded block of limestone protruding from the corner of a large structure (N 32˚ 46.439, E 035˚ 39.946)..
The monastery held a commanding view of the Noa Stream and of the fields north of Hippos.
We can only wonder who inhabited this locale and why they chose to encounter God here. They are part of the “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us. May our lives too be marked by the sign of the cross.
