Today I went back into the pit with Will. We found a bunch of fallen bricks, a piece of alabaster, and a weird line of gray clay. Dalit said she’d never seen anything like it, so we don’t really know what it was. We may have found diddley, but Ami said that our pit changed their concept of the site’s stratigraphy.
Ami’s first theory was that our bricks were really bad erosion of the city down the slope. Now he thinks we are looking at bricks from the lower city and the time of area G – later and not the tenth century. (If I understood all that archaeology technical stuff correctly, which is highly suspect) Tomorrow we’re crossing our fingers to find some laid bricks. So much for Will and I saving the tenth century with our great stele!
Our site is in a kind of competition with the dig at Megiddo. They are led by a reconstructionist (I think his name is Finkelstein) who is out to prove that the united monarchy of David and Solomon was a myth. Ami, on the other hand, is wanting to save the united monarchy.
In any case, I really enjoyed today. We had fun scraping around for walls and bricks. We sang happy birthday to Jim; it wasn’t really his birthday. Every morning we pick somebody to sing to. My day was last Thursday. And no morning would be complete without its supply of bad puns.
After lunch, we took our daily jump in the river, where I saw the “white dolphins” for the first time. I think it started at the Sea of Galilee, when some of the guys went skinny-dipping. They pull down their trunks, flip in the water, and moon whoever’s looking. Since then, the “dolphins” have appeared at various places. I’ve always managed to turn away in time, but Hanan got me today.
I took a shower, then vegged out with pretzels, Coke, and the forensics show on the Discovery Channel.
Then I was a bad girl and skipped pottery washing for the first time. Right at 4:30, The Shadowlands came on the movie channel. Cereal for supper and now I’m getting to bed early – 8:30! Sleep, sleep, sleep . . .
11 down, 4 to go!
Tuesday, July 4
Dr. B has given me a new name – Dod Barzel (“Iron Breast”). I like it.
At breakfast time, Dr. B and Dalit made us some pancakes. They were wonderful. Anyway, area B2 is on its last legs. The pit is abandoned, Jenny and Andrea finished their house, and Hanan and Adam have already been moved to another area. I hope I get to stay.
After lunch, I went to the kibbutz store with Will, then, yep, we jumped in the river. At the post office, Will had a package from Kate with all kinds of goodies! At the guys’ cabin, we crashed on the sofa in front of another dumb movie. Then pottery washing, then another dumb movie.
For supper, Jo made us all chicken barbecued on the grill outside, for the Fourth of July. We had a lot of fun. The guys tried to catch the frisbee while jumping in the river. Jenny and Andrea brought out some water balloons, which lasted about 15 seconds. Dalit helped Will translate a kids’ book he bought – it was Chicken Little! Dr. B and I worked on Green Eggs and Ham. It’s weird because they never say what the food is – ham, of course, isn’t kosher. The book’s Hebrew title is “I don’t want it, I am not hungry.” But the Hebrew translation does rhyme, so it’s cool.
Three little girls came to sit on the hill to watch the guys jump after the frisbee. We gave them chips, and they were tickled when I took their picture. One was really shy and she ran off.
The other volunteers came to the hill after the lecture for ice cream and fireworks. I went to bed because it was getting late (oooh – 9:00), but I can hear everyone outside as I write this.
Wednesday, July 5
This really was a dull day, but the main reason my entry is so short is because Never Been Kissed came on – to the great delight of Shannon and me! Who’d have thought we’d see OUR movie in Israel with Hebrew subtitles? Joyfulness! It’s way past our bedtime, but who cares? “Rufus!”
Thursday, July 6
At 3:00 a few of us went with Dr. B to get the vans in Tiberias; we rode a bus and a taxi. In town we did a little shopping before we left. Will and I found a great bookstore; he bought a Hebrew copy of Where the Wild Things Are for Kate. I, meanwhile, picked up the only copy of a certain book on the sale rack, by a person named “G’yn ‘usten” – Pride and Prejudice!!!
Gary drove the other van, so Will and I were the only ones to ride back with Dr. B, and we stopped at a site on the Jordan called Yinoam. It’s only claim to fame is being listed in the Merneptah stele.
When we got back to the kibbutz, we got some more people and headed out again for supper at McDonalds in Beth Shean.
I stayed up late (9:45!) to enter some more information in the computer at Dalit’s cabin, and I finished the first week.
Well . . . tomorrow is our last day at Tel Rehov, and I’m both happy and sad. It went by so fast, but I’ve gotten to feel very used to Israel, like I belong here. But it’s not just around the corner – it’s on the other side of the world! I will miss this place.
Oh, what a bad start to the day! For some reason, Shannon’s alarm didn’t go off at the right time, and our roommates thought we were awake. We woke up at 5:30 and were thinking, “crap.” I asked the woman in the office for directions to walk to the dig, but she wouldn’t tell me and kept saying, “Too far, too far.” Finally, we got Dr. B’s cell phone and he came and got us. I felt like a real loser, even though most people who miss the bus just don’t care and go back to sleep. Dalit wasn’t mad, but I missed my last chance to work in our pit, which they officially closed today. I spent the morning dirt-wenching.
B2 was kind of sad today. All but 4 of us were moved to B1, and I pretty much dirt-wenched all morning. Lunch, river jump, shower, tv. Instead of pottery washing, Dr. B got me to do data entry on the computer. Then we had supper and a lecture on the emergence of Israel. zzzzzz
Though today’s digging was long and boring, I had a great day on the whole. It started off right on the bus to the site, when Paul Simon’s “Train in the Distance” came on the radio. At the dig, I made my usual discoveries of dirt, pottery, and general diddley-squat. We had pizza for lunch, then jumped in the river.
Today we dug for the last time – I will never see the pit again. It was a pretty mellow day; we toured and had our Friday popsicles.