Day 21

Today was a toughie.  The gnats were unbearable and the sun was hot.  Too hot.  We started our square extension, dubbed the "penalty box."  It is east of M11, and is technically 1 and a half meters of N11.  The surface was really tough, just like the top layer in M11.  However, we worked hard and got through locus 1 by the end of the morning.  We also spent some quality time moving our shade and complaining about the heat/bugs.  Phwew.  They were so bad.  We went in early again, and went back out in the afternoon to do more preservation work on the temple.  We moved lots of rocks and buckets of gravel.

This past week has gone by really quickly-- we've been working so hard and wading through packs of gnats.  I am looking forward to a break this weekend.  Maybe hit the kibbutz pub-- named Henrietta's after Henrietta Szold, who gave her name to the kibbutz.  Our pottery expert, Debbie, is coming this weekend and we will get our pottery "read."  That means she'll examine all of our pottery and date it and maybe tell us what type of vessel it is.  This allows us to date and interpret things we find in our square.  Super cool!

Here are some action shots from the past few days-

Machal ('12) shooting some elevations.

Director Dan Schowalter of Carthage messing about in our square.  Helping us move lots of large rocks.

Well stay tuned!  I hope to have some more video tours of other squares coming soon.