Week One Over at Zeitah

The dig is going OK thus far, and we just finished week one of five. Basically the week was spent doing prep work. We had to cut down the weeds which had overgrown on the tell. Friday we spent replacing sandbags all around the several 10x10 m squares previously excavated. Also last year’s benchmark for elevations appears to have been off a couple of centimeters, as this year’s readings on the same monuments are slightly higher. Next week I believe we will really start excavating. We are basically working in two Iron II destruction phases. One from ca. 830, the other slightly earlier. Kalypso my daughter is doing well. She reads and takes photos for much of the work day, but she is helpful when I need someone to fetch tools, and most important, I really enjoy spending time with her. My student Roy is doing very good thus far. Filling sandbags on Friday was very labor intensive. I’m still pretty sore, so I’m glad we have the weekend off. I learned last night that Roy is quite a dancer, and other volunteers taught my daughter some pretty smooth moves. Most of the volunteers are going to Jerusalem for the weekend. We’re staying put to sleep, read, eat, and do a bit of research.