Friday June 18 Boy was it hot again.

Found my pavement went entirely the other length of my locus 2212, I was the only one in it for today. Did not find much, however the others were luckier, one found a bronze ring (I did not get a picture of that), we found a storage jar (broken but probably mostly complete), a couple of coins, they found the wall in another locus that we thought should have been there, and an oven. It was a bit sad to be saying goodby to so many new friends. I will be emailing many of them to keep up. Have worked out my travel to Tel Aviv so I should be on my flight. Well it appears there will be no pictures today. They are not uploading.

Thursdat June 17 Boy is it HOT

I failed to mention it yesterday but it hit about 95 to 100 degrees. Today it is between 100 and 105 so we were told to drink plenty of water and pace ourselves. We found the other pavement or walk way on the rest of our locus. Also found a second stirrup or door knocker. We do believe that they are for opening a door or something else. The locus next door found three beads which may have been on the same string as a necklace. Also found a couple of coins. See pictures, and I am also putting in the knife and horse head which they now think is a bull head. I did have some trouble with uploading the pictures yesterday. So just one more day of digging. See you all soon.

Wednesday June 16 We continue to find

The big find today was a dagger in our locus just next to where I found the sword. Look for picture. I did not find it because we had not removed a rock that covered it. Found some more oil lamps, a couple of coins, I do not know what they are yet for they have not been cleaned. The entire group has fun thinking up stories that connect all our finds even though they are from different times and levels. Started working on how I get to the airport Sunday, hoping to car pool or something. I can get the Kubuttz shuttle to Tiberious and then the express bus to the airport. But I will work it out. I volunteered for breakfast duty today since I had not done this. Just as much work as digging.

Tuesday June 15 Our Finds Continue

Well excitement continues, this morning we found a scicle or sythe (see picture). However our pavement or walkway does not continue where we expected it to, so it may be a corner where we are. In section C, ours is A West, South and East, they found a small horse head figure. It had a spout through it mouth so it probably held some kind of valuable liquid or perfume. Many other finds in the site. More oil lamps, an almost complete little jug, other many shards of pottery. Last night we had a lecture on a New Testament Source called Q which Matthew and Luke possibly used. Nothing new to me I had read about it in the Seminary. Tonight the lecture is one I have heard so I probably will skip it. The week is going fast and I will be home before I know it. See you all soon.

Sunday June 13, and Monday June 14 "Eureka"

To finish up a little Saturday, I took time to go through the entire Museum on the Kibuttz. It was very interesting, mainly on the establishment of Israel and the Kibuttz. Sunday I choose to go touring with Carlos my friend from Costa Rica, who presently lives in the Phillipines. I had thought about going to Jerusalem but the travel time would have been too much. Well I got to see three sites I had never seen before. We left about 8:30 am and went to Chorizim of the Bible. It was a great site. One which is not on most tourist agendas. It had a fine synogogue and other buildings (ruins). The Bible does not mention Jesus preaching in the synogogue but of his miracles there. Then we went to Tel Hazor, mentioned in the Old Testament, Joshua destoryed the Hitites there, King Ahab had a Palace and High Place there. Then we went to Tel Dan, which is the northern most place in Israel in the Old Testament. We ended up in Banis or Caecarea Philipi, where I had been before and on the first weekend. We had a great time.

Now for Monday and "Eureka", I found a Roman? sword, it was in a deteriorated condition, but most of it appears to be present. Look for picture (second picture is of the handle in situ). The handle was riveted to the blade with bronze pins. The big find of the week so far (my 15 minutes of fame). A jug was found in our locus also, it was just missing the small neck and handle. Look for picture. Our locus has been subdivided with one locus on each side of the wall. I also found a paved walkway, very small at the moment but we expect to see more of it. We did not open the area below the five long stones because we need to get the rest of our locus on the same level. So here's to tomorrow.

TGIF June 11 An Eventful Day

We have found our wall, I also found a door post holder. I will put pictures on the blog. The one's beside us have numbers now they are 1151 and 1152. Since ours are continuations of previous found walls they have to look back in the data and find what numbers they have. A little humor happens also, yesterday Dr. Savage and some in a locus that has been pretty barren in finds where talking about finding a Mazzuza (one of the Jewish door posts prayer things) in the dig. Well he planted one for a lady to find, she started laughing for it was a plastic modern one. Well Bill Hild, a pastor from Florida, had bought several first century oil lamps in Jerusalem, Dr. Savage had kept requesting we find some oil lamps since some of the other areas had found some. Well Bill planted them in their barron square (They called it the hell hole because they had moved some much dirt and stones and found little). Bill called Dr. Savage to come see what he had found. He had planted one lamp right side up and one upside down and put some bones found earlier beside them. He had uncovered the bones and one lamp, Dr. Savage was very excited. He said cain't you find two. Well Bill began to uncover the other one and the Dr. was very excited. Bill was thinking he had had it for this prank. Rance one of his church members wispered, you better tell him now. Well he reached in the little hole in the lamp and pulled out a note that said Gotcha. But with the walls and another exciting find which we could not start uncovering on Friday. Look for the row of five stones in the picture. I don't think he was to disappointed. We had not pottery reading today because it was the begining of the Jewish Shbott (Sabbath). No lectures either. I worked on organizing my pictures which are numerous.

I am writing this on Saturday morning, leazure breakfast, read some magazines I brought, came to the museum to get internet. It looks like a relaxing Saturday with maybe some touring tomorrow if we can work it out.

Someone told me it is Thursday already June10

Thg lecture last night was on the Herod Philip coins many which have been found in Bethsaida. It is very interesting what a coin can tell us. Like who is in charge, who serves whom, who is honored and much more. I found that coins of the first century were usually dated. We are very close to the walls that we have been looking for, Dr. Savage numbered the ones in the locus beside us so it is a matter of time before we find them in our locus. We will probably photograph and then move rocks again tomorrow, right now it is hard to dig between the ones on top. We are finding less mixed pottery and more first century pottery which means we are approaching what is called a closed strata where the mixing will become almost nonexistant. More coins were found today, we are not sure what they are for they have not been cleaned. Yesterday we found one of the Roman nails in our locus. And we found an oil lamp also. I plan to put the pictures on the blog today. Note how long and big they are. These would be the ones they used in crucifixion. Our lecture tonight is on the Crusaders again so I will probably skip it. A group of austrailians have joined us for a few days, we thought they were students with an instructor but it turns out they are just an independent group. So after having three roommates for two weeks I have a room to myself at least until Sunday evening.

Wednesday June 9 We Moved the Rocks

We got the photography done early on this morning and then we moved out the big rocks that did not add to much. The locus beside us has found a wall and we should soon be finding it also. We found two Roman nails, some Roman glass, and plenty of pottery shards. A West found a silver midievil coin and some oil lamps. The locus in front of us found an oil lamp also. So it appears we all are getting close to a big find. Last night Dr. Savage spoke again on the Bethsaida Site. Tonight We are to hear from a new professor. We will be reading a lot of pottery this afternoon at four.

Besides seeing more helicopters and C-130s we really do not see much change with the political situation. We all feel safe. I am missing all of you more and more. We don't know about touring this weekend but a lot of people are interested.

Tuesday June 8 Opps

Well it finally happened, I slept through and missed the bus to the site. I woke up at exactly 5:30 am and immediately knew I missed it. I had awoke at 4:30 and thought that I had a good half hour to sleep. I had to beg, borrow and buy my way to the Bethsaida Site. A taxi finally worked. I found out the official photographer left a little later and I could have ridden with him on his motorcycle. I figure the taxi fare was worth it. Well we haven't moved the stones that are on top of the dirt, we will film them tomorrow and will be able to proceed. Haven't found much except sherds and some nice Roman glass myself. One of the new diggers found what looks like a topaz bead. Most of the loci around us have moved their heavy rocks. Six of us men moved an enourmous rock out of the A East locus. We are A North. No pottery reading today we finished most of it yesterday and caught up. They are hinting at a lecture tonight but we are not sure. So tune in tomorrow same station same time.

Sunday and Monday June 6& 7

On Sunday June 6 we left the Ecce Homo Sisters and went to the Temple Mound. We did not know if it would be open since it is in the control of the Muslims. It was open and we had no trouble. Again it was a very spiritual experience. The Dome of the Rock was closed but we had full access to the entire Mount. Just to be where the Jewish Temple had been was powerful, I took a ton of pictures. Next we went to the South Wall Archaelogical Park. As well as getting to the South Wall of the Temple Mount, we were able to see many 1st century homes which are practically cut out of the limestone rock. Then we went over to the Hulda Gates of the Temple Mound. Of course they are now closed off and sealed up, but Jesus must have walked the bed rock steps and entered the Temple through these gates. Unfortunately the Park Service has overlaid most of them but you can still walk where Jesus walked. We saw some of the mistpha baths where the Jews cleansed themselfs before going into the Temple. Probably the Christians used many of these to baptize the 3000 new Christians on the day of Penecost. Then we went out at the Dung Gate and went to the City of David where we saw some of the new excavations which are proving that there was plenty of buildings and structures there in the time of David. We had pizza for lunch with the best lemon and mint slushie I have had in a long time. In fact I had two. Since I had to meet some people to share a ride back to Kubuttz Ginosar, I went back to Ecce Homo to finish packing and say goodby to some others returning to the States. But before I left I went down to the basement floors of the Convent and saw the very place where Pontus Pilate said, "Behold the Man", thus Ecce Homo. Not only are the Roman floors still there, but the place the Roman Guards lived, a tremendous cistern where water was stored, and other ancient rooms, there were pottery exhsibits from 1st century occupation, a Roman sige bullet (a rock that waighted a ton), and other miscellaneous things from that time. When I meet the people to go back to the Kubuttz our taxi was late it had been rear ended coming to pick us up. They had negotiated a special rate through a friend of theirs, so we were left to negotiate with the hotel taxis to bring us back. It was much more expensive than the first. But luckily there were three to share the fare. We arrived back just in time for supper.

Monday, a new group had come in for the week on Sunday evening, so while they went to the Bethsaida site for orientation, the rest of us 5 or 6, washed pottery (thousands of shards) for the full morning. Since so many had gone on the Friday to Sunday tour we had gotten very far behind on the pottery. So now we are somewhat caught up. There is no pottery reading today and I am not sure about the lecture for tonight. So signing off until tomorrow.

Tour Continues Saturday June 5

On Saturday we started at 8:00 am, and went to the Church of the Nations which is at the foot of the Mt. of Olives. It is very beautiful and very international. We went into the Olive Garden where Jesus prayed not my will but thine be done. After that we walked along the East Wall of Jerusalem, and saw the Golden or East Gates, the tomb of Absolam (in name only), and the tomb of Zachariah (in name only). Next we when to the House of Ciaphaus, where the religious trial of Jesus took place and he was imprisoned overnight. The prison is carved out of limestone under the house and just has a hole in the top to let down prisoners by rope. No way out, no lights, no latrine. The experience down in the hole (now reached by stairs) is a sobering one. Then we went to Shinler's grave, remember the movie Shinler's List. We had noon prayers with the Domicion Monks, and then lunch in the Monestary. We heard real Gregorian Chants as the brothers lead us in the prayers, very beautiful with the acoustics in the Chapel. We ended our tour with a visit to the Church of the Holy Seplucher. Last night we went ot the Notra Dame Museum to see an exhibit on the Shroud of Tourin (the burial cloth of Jesus suposidly. A very facinating and spiritual experience.

Thursday June 3 to Friday June 4

Some good finds today (Thurs), an early bronze age bronze bowl, a Roman nail (they are about 5 or 6 inches long, they would be the kind with which they nailed Jesus to the Cross), a bronze coin (had not been cleaned to see the date and time), while we were on our tour Friday we heard they found a complete small jug of the Early Bronze age. In my locus a lot of pottery shards and a lot of hard digging where we used pick axes and spades. Our lecture that evening was a fascinating talk on the finding and repair and then a reconstruction of a male figure of Minolan culture. Mark Moalk put about 1600 hrs in the reconstruction. He gave the lecture.
Friday we left at 7:30 am for our tour. We went first to Beth Shean which is not on most tours. It is a fascinating ruin, with several cordos, column lined streets with shops on booth sides. Some very nice ruins of more expensive homes, an amplitheater, a public latrine where men and women sat in rows together on stones set three or four inches apart. Then on to Masada, where Herod the Great had a fortress on a huge mountain and later the last Jews of the 70 AD revolt committed suicide. Herod had two palaces on top and a swimming pool. I did not get to see the cliff or north palace in 1997 because it was closed off for preservation and reconstruction. Then off to the Dead Sea to swim. The Dead Sea is dying, literally it is evaporating away because of the decrease of water inflowing into it. I was very surprized to see how much it had gone down. Then on to Qumram where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written or collected and hidden in the caves of the area. Then on to Jerusalem to settle in, we are staying in a convent called Ecce Home, near where Pontus Pilate said "see the Man". From the roof patios we can see the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mound. The Priatorium where Jesus was sentenced by Pilate is just down the street. After supper at the convent we went to the Western Wall for the beginning of Shebat. A good night's sleep followed.

Wednesday June 2

This morning when we got to work the air was clear and cool and you could see to the other side of the Sea of Galilee very clearly. The Early Bronze Age area seems to be producing almost all pottery and other items of that date. That pushes us to a level 7. My group is digging in level 3 which is the first century. Level 6 is in the Iron Age in the time of David. We found another skelatin, but this one may be an ancient person since part of it is embedded in a wall. The door knocker which we found yesterday may turn out to be a spir worn on boots for horse ridding. We also found what may be a door post socket, which holds the post that the door turns on. We will see.
We quit after popscicle break and guess what? We rafted down the Jordan River just below our site. I would rate it a 0 to 0.5 for a rapid. But it was fun. Last night's lecture was about the Crusader Era in Israel (1099 to 1249). Since I did not know much about that era I found it very interesting. We will be touring in the South about Jerusalem and the Dead Sea this weekend. More tomorrow.

Sunday through Tuesday June 1

To start off we have heard little about the incidents off the coast of Israel. We know the Turkish ambassador has been called home and that 10 have been killed. Where we are everything is normal. On our Sunday tour we left at 7:30 am in order to get to the Mt. of Beatitudes and Tabatha where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. Since Israel has said that all Christian Churches must be closed on Sundays we were invited to participate in an out door worship service, we made it just in time to be let in the gates. It was a Catholic Mass mostly in German but he spoke English every once and a while. We were on the very edge of the Sea of Galilee and it was beautiful and we had a little wind to cool us even though we were under a shade shelter. We briefly got to look inside the little church.
Then we went to the Mt. of Beatitudes where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mt. and took a little hike to see the lonely place that the Bible says Jesus used as his pray place. From there we went to Capernaum where Jesus often when and where Peter lived. We visited the ruin of a third century synogogue which is built over the ruins of the first century Synogogue where Jesus often visited. Then we went to Ceasarea Philipi, where Jesus asked his disciples "Who do you say that I am". The area is the head waters for the Jordan River. The springs and streams come from the Mt. Herman area. The water is so aboundant and fresh looking. But by the time the water gets to the Sea of Galilee the flow is not much. The Cave of the worship of Pan is also in this area. I had heard about some of the new discoveries there and it was great to see them. We hiked the stream trail and saw the springs flowing from the earth. Got home a little before supper and showered and napped.
Monday was the usual, start at 5:30 am, we thought that we were going to be moving big rocks that were not connected to the monumental structure we are looking for, however the area had not been mapped (drawn). So we continued to clear the dirt away. We now have four loci in our area. We found an early Syrian coin (when I say we I mean our entire group). Not much else except mixed pottery shards. We read the pottery from Friday at 4:00 pm this lasts about two hour sometimes, but is very interesting. The lecture at 8:00 pm was about the Jewish present at Bethsaida thru the many centuries. A few times there was no Jewish presence and then they came back. There was not ocuppation after the fourth century AD.
Tuesday morning I found an iron ring, and will be very interested in finding out its significance at tomorrow's pottery reading. We also found a door knoker??, a modern human skeletin which was immediately buried according to the Jewish law. It probably was a Syrian soldier killed in the 1967 war. And the find of the day was by another section, it was a small incinse altar with four legs. So I will post again soon.