A day in square 7K23

We continue removing the east balk to reveal a diagonal stone wall. Anita, and I (Rebecca), worked steadily with our local assistants, 15-year old K'sigh and 23-year old Aboud.
Meaningful employment fosters good morale and with this in mind we rotate duties so that all four of us take a turn at digging, sweeping, hauling quffas with dirt or rocks, and sifting.

While we work K'sigh and Aboud help us learn the Arabic words for our tools and other important things. We write the phonetic English equivalent on a tatty paper that we keep close as we dig. (Rolling the r sound required).

broom: furshya
dust pan: mudroot
pick: mukoosh
trowel: mustrayah
large pick: fas
large: kabeer
small: zarear
pottery fkhar
bone: ahdam
rock: hajar
break: straha
watery: maya
sun: shemps
hot: har

In other news, our team broke through the topsoil (may it be cursed) and began a new locus today. Digging now is much easier. My right wrist, elbow and shoulder celebrate. This layer of dirt is crumbly and full of larger rocks. Before we began work on locus 6, our supervisor Lizzy showed us how to draw a top plan. Thinking I'm artsy and this will be fun, I took on the task with some enthusiasm. Ugh. I do not like drawing the tops of rocks to scale on dicey graph paper. Art, it seems, has nothing to do with it.

Final notes for today: field M brought back a total of 10 pottery pails today, five from each square. That made for a lengthy pottery washing session and one can only guess how tomorrow's reading will go. In pottery reading today, our collection from yesterday yielded three stoppers and one unfinished spindle whorl: our first objects.
Ken and the kids went to the souq with a group and I'm enjoying a bit of quiet. Our next door neighbor, Monique Vincent, and I did a 20 minute yoga session to help stay limber after spending the day hunched over pick and quffa. This post is done so now I'm ready for bed. It's 8:37 local time. Good night.

June 29, 2010

Today i am sick! digging with diarrhea is really shitty (haha) and i'm not about to let my body do that to me again. i forgot to say in a previous post that on the way back to amman from aqaba i got to hold the cutest baby boy!

Pottery Pails

The wake up bell sounds at 4:15 am and breakfast is at 4:30. The buses leave for the site at 5:00 and we're beside our squares by 5:30. Second breakfast is at 9:30, so far, however, this time has been fluid. At 12:ish field supervisors meet with square supervisors to write the day's reports. At 12:30 we return to "camp" and lunch at 1:00. But the day is not over yet. Quiet time follows lunch from 2:00-4:00 with pottery reading at 4:00. Tip top archeologists find their way to the pottery tables before 4:00 to count and arrange their finds. Then Kent Bramlett, the chief archeologist, moves along the tables determining the period represented by the finds. "Distinguished" pieces matter for this, these include rims, any signs of paint, handles, or bases. Based on his experience and training he then identifies and counts these pieces for record. Today, my square included lamps, bowls, and jars from Early Iron 2 and Early Iron.

While pottery readings are in session, soaked pottery from the previous day is scrubbed and sorted. This takes quite some time due to the ubiquity of pottery pieces. After just three days I'm developing pottery pail hands!

Along with pottery we sort bones, teeth, and objects. Jillian found a hammer stone that pleased our chert-focused student, Nikki.

How did the Seven Dwarfs do It?

All together now:
"We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig in a mine (or a square) the whole day through! We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, that's what we like to do."

According to the Wheeler-Kenyon archeological method, fields are dived into squares and each square is surrounded by a "balk" or one meter wide wall. In field M, balk removal began for squares K723 and K724; supervisors: Rainbow and Rebecca respectively. Kneeling and picking away at packed topsoil for about seven hours leaves the arm rather shaky. If it weren't for the amazing battery charge we experienced in Aqaba, this might be discouraging.



Local workers helped us make real progress. Shaaker took the pick for some time while I, Rebecca, kept loose rubble swept away from the edge of the balk in an effort to keep the neighboring square from "contamination". Because squares have already revealed much, balk removal goes a bit faster than regular digging. However, Anita and I removed each 10 centimeter "peel" with care, while Aboud (rhymes with Dude) carried and sifted the contents of 68 quffas. We kept very busy.

Jun28 Justin
This past weekend in aqaba was so perfect, truly! I’d never stayed in a five star hotel before and I felt kind of guilty surrounded by so much finery and everyone was so kind. On the bus ride to aqaba, we sat by like three little boys but I only remember that two of their names were yousef and daood. It was basically impossible to communicate with them and their little sister but we gave it our best shot. I feel a little depressed here just because not many funny people decided to come this season and I saw at least four huge spiders today which is bad, bad. It helps to have a few jokesters around when you work for seven hours each day in the desert because the time passes more smoothly, the rocks you lift become lighter, and you don’t notice so much the dirt settling inside your lungs. I’m acutely aware of what an amazing experience this is, but I would really like to go home soon. Complaining isn’t usually my thing so I apologize and it won’t happen again :)

A Perfect Day, Aqaba #2

Once in a while, a day shines and sparkles with perfection. We experienced just such a day in Aqaba. Aside from aching muscles from the kneeling and bending of our first day on site, we had a magical Saturday when time seemed to move just a bit slower so that we could revel in each moment.

Sleeping late on comfy beds, a long, leisurely breakfast, time beside the clear blue pool, and an afternoon cruise aboard a glass bottom boat. We sailed south to coral, drifted above various formations and a sunken ship, then pulled on snorkeling gear for a swim. Stunning.

The dive was like a metaphor for our, Ken & Rebecca's, relationship. Almost 24 years ago we hired a taxi to drive us to the coral, used equipment we'd packed in, and had little idea where to look for coral and fish. The water was murky and cold in September. If you think about life as facing the past, because that is what you can see, we had very little history together in 1986 and didn't really understand much of what we "saw". But this time we were taken to the best spot, the water was clear and cool, and we saw wondrous coral formations and a huge variety of fish. (Sorry, no underwater camera. ) Today, almost 24 years later, we still don't know much; however, we "see" the history we've made together with a little clarity and much delight.

On the return cruise we feasted on a barbeque meal, including hummus, baba ganosh, and salad.

After a dip in the pool, showers, and a trip to the hotel spa for Graeme, we walked toward downtown and found Italian ice.

Aaaah, Aqaba 1

Friday afternoon the campus steward, Mohammed, took us to the downtown Jett Bus station. True to form, no travel with Ken and Rebecca is flawless. Just as we pulled into the Jett station, Ken asked, "Does everyone have their passport?" Rebecca's face and heart sank. "I don't have mine," I confessed, feeling non-plussed and a tad peeved. Graeme didn't have his passport either, after all, we weren't leaving the country. Mohammed assured us that everything would work out. But the niggling thought that we'd run into difficulty made the trip just a bit more uncomfortable that it might have been.

Tickets in hand, we boarded a bus that was a huge improvement over the one Ken and Rebecca took almost 24 years ago when heading to Aqaba. Still a very local mode of transport, we climbed to the top of the double-decker and found our assigned seats. Four young boys, about nine to 14, sat in front of us. Soon they struck up conversation with Justin, Graeme and Ken, exchanging names, laughing at our attempts at Arabic and trying their English. The four-hour journey included tea service and two or thee hours of an Egyptian television series. The plot seemed to feature a wealthy family served by the star of the show, a clever, sometimes slapstick butler. Not exactly sure, but that's what we gathered. The other bus riders seemed to enjoy it in spite of dicey production value – the set was like a theatre stage and microphones were visible on the lapels of the actors' clothes. The boys continued to communicate, especially with Justin, drawing pictures and figuring out words from the small Arabic for Archeologists book she had from her dig information.

Just before we began our descent into Aqaba, the bus stopped and a guard boarded to see ID's and check luggage. It was a bit tense for me, but Ken presented his document and Justin hers, and that was enough. Whew! After the checkpoint, the highway steadily dropped between the rugged mountains guarding the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. With passport worries behind us, I, Rebecca, enjoyed the dramatic shadows that the declining light created on the craggy mountains. Our first view of Aqaba was in twilight as the glow of the day gave way to evening lights. At the bus station several eager taxi drivers offered their services but we easily walked the block or so to our destination, the Intercontinental Hotel.

We've never stayed in a five-star hotel before. Let me tell you, we'll never forget this one. You'd have thought we'd been roughing it for a month rather than five days the way we swooned over our lux accommodations – two rooms – each with a balcony and partial sea view, sumptuous beds, western bathrooms, unlimited water. The hotel also offered private beach access, an amazing swimming pool, breakfast buffet, and lightening fast internet. We all agreed we could get used to it.

Ken and I left our things along with our sleepy children in the rooms and went for a stroll on the beach. The almost-full moon was so bright that our shadows fell on the sand as we stood facing the sea. Lights glowed from the surrounding hotels as well as from boats anchored in the quiet water. We could also see the lights from the town on the Israeli side of the gulf. A breeze rose off the water. We claimed two lounge chairs on the beach and sat gazing out to sea, enjoying the salt air. After our first full day digging and our long bus ride the tranquility of the place seemed like a drug. We realized the wisdom of Justin and Graeme, and headed for bed ourselves.

Catching up!

Friday we rose before the sun, ate and boarded a bus headed to the site. Who knew we’d travel all this way to sweep and pull weeds? But that describes most of our first day as archeologists. Indiana Jones never mentioned this. Field M, marked out beforehand with rebar and heavy string, required steady attention with brooms, dust pans, and the occasional trowel to remove stubborn grass. Graeme and Rebecca, along with the field M team, swept loose dirt and debris blown in since last season (2008), collected it in quffas (pronounced goofas) – wide, shallow buckets made of old tire rubber, and carried it all to the sift stations set up for each square. Before housekeeping, we drove long pipes into sift heaps created near the edge of the mound last season and hung mesh sifts (I feel tempted to call them sieves, however, this term is not used) from nylon rope. Anita, an Australian student attending Canadian University College, taught me two clever knots in the process.

Once the contents of a quffa is dumped onto the mesh tray, it’s given a vigorous shake sending a cloud of fine dust into the breeze, generally away from the sifter, but even with favorable winds a share blows back into the face etc. (This makes for muddy nose blowing later.) What rubble remains is searched for bits of pottery, bone or chert (rock used as tools). These are placed in the potter bucket (bearing a label with pertinent information for accurate data) or bone bag and cleaned later. Even clean-up produced a few interesting things such as a camel tooth, several pieces of bone, and about half a bucket of pottery pieces.

After what seemed like half the day, I checked my watch – 7:45. The 5:30 start distorts one’s sense of time. Lizzy Brown, field M supervisor, called a water break and told the team that a digging lesson would follow second breakfast. Second breakfast! Local workers busied themselves setting up 10 foot wood poles, ropes and a huge black blanket for the eating tent. Mats made of woven nylon covered the ground. The shelter was up but not all the mats installed when breakfast arrived – a bit later than the usual 9:30. No one minded and we all eagerly devoured the shwarma or falafel sandwiches, hummus, and small local pasteries that tasted like annis. Cold watermelon, slaughtered by Kent Bramlet, featured as dessert.

Intro to Archeological digging followed lunch. A group of us stood by the line Doug Clark drew in the sand. After a demonstration we fell to our knees with pick and trowel and tried our skill outside the marked squares. Everyone passed. After a bit more clean up, Lizzy sat between her square supervisors, Rebecca and Rainbow, and carefully reviewed the paperwork for end of day reporting.

Around noon we returned brooms, dust pans and quffas to the supply tent, collected our pottery pails and personal equipment, and climbed back on our bus, dusty and weary. Back at camp we showered and ate lunch or ate lunch then showered. It was such an exhausting first day that we decided to take a weekend trip to Aqaba for rest and relaxation. Really, we made the trip now because Justin returns to the States after week three and every weekend between now and then is already planned with trips and outings for the group. Graeme was a bit reluctant to leave as he's just getting to know his fellow diggers. But now that we're in Aqaba, he's happy he came along.

Fieldtrip!

Click on slideshow to enlarge!

After breakfast this morning we boarded two small buses and headed out to see three sites, or talls, that make up the Madaba Plains Project. First we stopped at Hesban, where Sigfriend Horn began excavating in the 1960's. A fence surrounds the tall and signs mark or explain important finds. Then on the the vast Tall Jalul. Not as much work has been done here. Audrey stood beside a field she worked on several seasons. Dig seasons for Jalul are on odd years while Umayri digs take place even numbered years. This explains how Audrey has logged in so many digs! She calls this a vacation every summer. Finally on to Umayri, our site for the next few weeks beginning tomorrow at 5:00 AM. Breakfast at 4:30, so all for now.