TGIF!

Hurrah for Friday! Knowing a weekend awaits us at the end of this day of back-breaking labor cheers everyone along. We began working in a new part of the square this morning. Information on the new locus sheet included matching the soil with what looked like paint chips on a Munsell Chart. Along with the Munsell reading, Lizzy also evaluated the texture of the soil. All the information collected is surprising. With a shift of locus, Anita and I found ourselves unusually idle – relatively speaking – because of the locus size. We tried digging together but soon realized the space was too cramped for quality work. As square supervisor I ended up digging on my own, frequently consulting Lizzy, our field supervisor. Because of a "surface" in an adjoining square, we were on the lookout for something similar in our square. The mental question, "Is this rock part of a surface or is it just more rubble?" repeated often. K'sigh hauled the dirt and rocks for me, but often sat and waited for me to fill a quffa. Just about every quffa of dirt was matched with a quffa of rocks. Before second breakfast I found a hammer stone: a flint tool about the size and shape of a billiard ball used in making other flint tools. Very exciting! Later I pulled a broken mortar bowl from a balk wall.

To keep busy, Anita and Aboud helped Rainbow and her team clean up their square. Debris scattered during balk removal must be swept out before the next locus level measurements are taken. Aboud and Graeme found time to listen to music and dance a bit when things slowed on their project.

Aboud brought hot, sweet mint tea to Rainbow, Anita and me after second breakfast. Love it! Friday means a slightly shorter work day and pay for the local workers. The representative from the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, Ramull, often tours the different fields at the start of the day with Doug Clark and Kent Bramlet. Today he was on hand to distribute pay after each field supervisor gave a report on the workers' performance for the week. Everyone was happy.

Like the workers, we also had a slightly shorter workday. Packing up at 12:00 instead of the usual 12:30, we took a short field trip. Working on the top of the Tall at Umayri we see a another archeological site across the highway. We went to inspect the fifth century Byzantine church with mosaic floor that another team uncovered between the last Umayri season and this one. Along with intricate mosaic work, the church also has gutters, a cistern, possible baptistry and curious underground room.

After pottery reading and washing this afternoon, I visited the room where important finds are photographed as well as sketched. The "amazing" ceramic nose of yesterday will end up there along with a small, detailed figurine head that was found in another field today.

Justin and Graeme joined a group going to town. They plan to see the World Cup match on a large screen at a mall. One of the dig participants, Canty Wang, is a huge Brazil fan. I'm ready to sleep. Hope I can snooze past the usual 4:15 wake-up time. Breakfast is at 7:00 and we go on a bus tour of the King's Highway after that. When I'm not too tired, I'm loving Jordan.