The Fourth (and Final) Installment ....

...of pictures from my trip to Israel this year. These pictures include my trip to Megiddo and Dor from last weekend as well as my trips to Kefar Qana and Beit She'arim from this weekend. I'll be home Wednesday and will begin showing off the 200 other pictures I took that didn't make the blog. I hope you all have enjoyed them.

The Triple Gate at Megiddo

I can only assume the three gate system was to maximize the arrow shooting, boiling oil spilling fun that can be had from the top of a city wall against one's enemies. Of course, the old girl ain't as tall as she once was, but you get the idea. The tel of Megiddo was inhabited continuously for several hundred years throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages and after.

The Cultic Site

Even though Randy is not a sheep and I'm not a priest, you get the idea of what occurred on top of this circular, stacked rock feature in the center of Megiddo. (No Randys were harmed in the taking of this photo)

Glad I didn't have to dig it

Easily one of the most impressive things I've seen on this trip is the water system at Megiddo. To avoid the hassle of trying to get water into the city during a siege, the people of Megiddo dug a huge hole within their city walls down to bedrock (shown in picture) and then continued to dig just as deep into the bedrock and then continued to dig a tunnel equally as long through the bedrock to the spring outside the city. Fantastic idea, but like I said, glad it wasn't me.

Alternative Temporary Housing

If when traveling to Israel, the thought of staying at a beach hotel bores you, you should try staying at the beach at Dor in one of their "igloo with jacuzzi". That's right, you and a guest can be only yards away from the spectacular beach at Dor and still enjoy a kitchen, living area and...a jacuzzi.

Kefar Qana

Our rival for the "true city of the first miracle" contains several churches commemorating Jesus turning water into wine in six stone jars. This church is one of them.

The Catacombs at Beit She'arim

A 3rd-4th century site, Beit She'arim is home to a series of large catacombs used to store the bones of the dead. Burial practices were such that the bodies of the deceased would be left to rot elsewhere and when only bones remained they would be placed in either a coffin or in the loculi (cut out spaces in the walls) within the catacombs. One of the most striking things about the catacombs is the drastic change in temperature; they are much cooler than the outside air. Also striking was the National Geographic employee (who warned us to be quiet because they were filming a documentary) who nearly scared me to death by saying hello and then poking her head through the curtain I was about to walk through to enter the catacombs.

Coffin in Detail

Many of the coffins in the catacombs were decorated with animal or floral motifs.

The Warmest Chamber

because of the window to the outside. Notice the three loculi in the back wall below the window.

The Third Installment...

...in which I learned that everything of interest in Israel is up a hill. A steep, rocky hill...lots of sun....little shade.

Stepping into the Mikvah at Yodfat

Yodfat is a 1st century village just west of Cana as you follow the wadi west along the northern edge of the Beit Netofa.

View of Cana from Nazareth

Easier to see in person than in a hazy photograph, Cana lies just across the Beit Netofa Valley from Nazareth. A portion of the buildings within Nazareth are in the foreground.

Tel Dan

The remains of the Israelite gate at Dan.

The Jordan River

One of the tributaries from which the Jordan River flows begins at Tel Dan near the Lebanese border. It was very cold, so I only stuck a toe in.

Caesarea

On the Mediterranean coast. The city from which the apostle Paul sailed for his trial in Rome.

Tiberias

Resort town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret as the Isrealis call it.

The Church of the Bread and Fishes

The church built to commemorate the miracle of the bread and fish is located near the sea of galilee. This mosaic is located in front of the altar within the Byzantine church. The rock above the mosaic is said to be a piece of the rock Jesus used as a table on which to perform the miracle.

Beit She'an

I visited this site on Saturday. The Roman/Byzantine city is at the base of the Bronze/Iron Age tel.

Columns

left in place after the earthquake that felled them in the 5th century. They belonged to a Roman temple at Beit Shean.

The Second Installment:

This week's group of pictures show the sights approaching Cana, Cana itself and a little bit of what I saw on our field trip through the wadi to a site contemporary with Cana, Khirbet Beza.

Sunrise

This is an Arab village we pass through every day on the way to the site. We stopped to take this photo just before we turned right onto the road that takes us into/through the village.

Sunflowers

Sunrise over the crops in the Beit Netofa valley.

Cana

from the floor of the Beit Netofa valley at about 6am. Cana is the small hill with hardly any vegetation in front of the tall hill with some trees.

On the west side of Cana

...drawing a top plan of Square 30. We've discovered 3 walls, 3 floor surfaces, a plaster covered bench and a doorway.

The southeast slope

Drawing a top plan for a square to be opened which contains some sort of feature that was carved into bedrock. At first we thought they may have been graves, but now it appears they may be associated with some sort of industry. Doug is carrying the GPS downslope to map something in.

The Breakfast Tree

One of the only trees still standing on Cana. We hike down to it every morning about 9:30 to eat 2nd breakfast which is essentially lunch since we've been working for four hours by that point.

Cana from the west...

...as seen from the wadi road. The olive trees in the foreground are relatively young.

Driving through the wadi...

...west of Cana after a hard day's work. We are on our way to visit Khirbet Beza, a Roman village near Cana. I'm surprised this picture turned out as well as it did what with the road containing such large cobbles and me standing in the bed of the truck to get the shot.

The "olives"

An olive press at Khirbet Beza. Randy, Helen, and Lauren are playing the part of the olives, and Randy is ensuring the oil and water is directed into the vat which you can't see in the photograph.

Olive Trees...

...in the valley below Khirbet Beza. The thickness of the trunks indicates these trees could be up to 1000 years old.

Israel 2007

Welcome to the first installment of photos from my trip. I'm working at Khirbet Qana (the ruins of Cana) as a supervisor in the field and in the laboratory. Be sure to click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the first screen to see all the pictures.

The Players:
Doug--the dig director and Professor of Religion at the University of Puget Sound
Tom--a field supervisor and Professor at Centre College in Danville, KY
Barry--geologist from the University of Puget Sound
Gary--(aka Termite) 65, runs his own termite extermination business. Has no formal archaeological training but has been coming to Israel every dig season since 1970.
BW--68, volunteer and philanthropist extraordinaire
Randy--volunteer from NYC, works for a law firm
Lauren & Ryan--the newlyweds (as of last week). Live and work in the DC area. Lauren, Tom's daughter, for different media groups and Ryan, a high school teacher
Helen--high school student and Doug's daughter
Kim--working on her MDiv at Yale, no dig experience prior to this excavation
Liz--will start Master's in contemporary Spanish literature in the fall, former student of Doug's

My Little Hut

It's one of four in its block. I share it with Liz who is from the Seattle area. I'm staying at Kibbutz Hasolelim which is about 6 miles NW of Nazareth.

The Beit Netofa Valley

Looking south across the valley from atop Cana. The Beit Netofa runs east/west across a large portion of the Galilee. The little squares in the valley are hay bales that are approximately 4 ft. tall. Thistles are the primary vegetation in the foreground.
Barry is showing Doug something on the camera. Doug is setting up the GPS for the day. He takes all of the elevations and stakes out all the squares using the GPS. It's linked to a "mother ship" tripod on the top of the tell which in turn is linked to the satellites.

The Wadi

Looking west from Cana is the wadi filled with an olive orchard. Every afternoon a really strong wind comes through this valley keeping us cool but blowing dirt all over us and into our eyes. Gorgeous view though.

First Day on Site

Liz (left) and Randy (right) are cleaning Square 30 (5x5m) in preparation for this year's excavation. Liz is cleaning a section of the 2x4m probe that was excavated last season. Randy is cleaning what we're excavating this year. Liz has her gufa (rubber bucket) sitting on the base of a column that was found last year.

Our Little Friend

This little guy came to see us our first day on site. He's only about 2" big, but he stopped to pose for a photo so I took one. Then he started toward my knee and I pitched him out of the square.

How Many Diggers Does it Take...?

....to move a really big rock out of the way. This ain't no painted piece of Hollywood styrofoam, I can tell you that. The man standing on the right is BW Ruffner, the man who donated the money that funded my fellowship. If you ever see him, give him a really big hug.

Jish

Jish (or Gush Halav for those who prefer Hebrew) is an Arab town about an hour north of Kibbutz Hasolelim. Just outside of Jish is the outcropping where Barry collected one of his samples.

The Basalt Outcrop

Kim is helping Barry take some basalt samples from an outcrop just outside of Jish. Meanwhile, Gary and I went down the hill to his friend Wakeem's house and ate some really good watermelon.
The basalt samples will be used to either verify or rule out that portion of Israel as the origination point of the material used to create the roof tiles at Cana.

For Mr. Smarty Pants

...and this is the rock I found today. An architectural fragment; either a lintle or a door jamb. We'll know more once its actually uncovered all the way. It's at least 11th century and may be as old as early Roman.