Houndsintheground's Blog

Evening over Jerusalem

houndsintheground — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:41:39 +0000

Here is a wonderful photo that Julia took of the Dome of the Rock at night, with the moon overhead.

Final thoughts

houndsintheground — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:44:16 +0000

This trip to Israel was the most exciting and memorable times of my life. I met so many people who will stay in my heart for a very long time. I was able to appreciate archaeology more than i did before. It is very hardwork and everyday you will complain that something hurts or that you are tired. Even though you complain, you look back on the experience and you wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I realized that Israel is a place of diverse cultures that are very difficult to understand but very interesting to see at work. There are so many thoughts running through my head of what I want to say, but I cannot put them into words. The first moment I spent in Israel I was overwhelmed with excitement. The last moment I spent in Israel I was overwhelmed with sadness. I couldn’t believe that a month had passed and all I wanted to do was see more. All I wanted to do was to go into Jerusalem one more time with the people I met who changed my life. Gettting together with people from all around the world really impacts your views on life. I have learned to really make the most of my time in different places and to branch out away from your comfort zone. Once I branched out I felt more fulfilled. The people I met during the Ramat Rahel excavation will be my friends forever. They welcome me to come visit them with open arms. I cannot wait to go back to Israel and to explore the rest of the world. This was the best experience and I am so grateful that I took advantage of this opportunity when it came along.

Concluding Remarks

houndsintheground — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:58:27 +0000

After being back in the United States for over 24 hours, I have had some time to think and reflect about the past month in Israel. Not only have I learned a great deal about archaeology and Israeli culture, but I have learned a lot about myself. This is the best souvenir I could ever have gotten for myself. Learning and growing as a person in a more positive sense. While the work was hard and long, this experience was totally worth it. I find myself missing parts of my daily routine in Israel and have a bittersweet feeling of being home. For example, out of habit, I woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking I had to go dig. I forget that I have my own room and Tara and Cindy aren’t here with me. I keep looking through my pictures to not only tell my family about the wonderful sights, but to keep the beauty fresh in my mind. While I did not write a post throughout the trip, it was such an amazing experience and the bonds made on this voyage will never be broken. Facebook has been a wonderful tool in connecting with friends made on the dig and I find myself wishing they would reopen Ramat Rachel for another season to see what else they can find. It is strange not seeing the faces of people I have spent the past month with. I would like to thank Dr. Radine and Dr. Appler for everything they have done to not only make this trip possible, but for making it one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

-Rachel

Swarmin’ with Shwarmas

houndsintheground — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:13:53 +0000

The trip is coming to an end, and though I have had the time of my life both at the dig as well as visiting various sites throughout Israel, I must say that my most memorable experiences have been adapting to a different cultural and of course with that said, enjoying the amazing Israeli and middle eastern infused cuisine. In my opinion, the best dish is the shwarma aka heaven in a pita. This sandwich is comprised of finely diced lamb stuffed into a pita pocket and topped with whatever your heart desires. From various types of hummus, such as traditional or hot, to chips (french fries), the sky is the limit as to what you can have accompany your tender pieces of lamb. Place a nice cold shandy beside your delicious shwarma and you will certainly not regret the 20-30 shekels you have just spent. In other news….I would like to speak on behalf of the whole Moravian bunch in saying that this Holy oasis will certainly be missed, but the bonding that has occurred and the friends we have made will categorize this excursion as more than a vacation, but rather the most memorable lifestyle we have ever experienced. I would like to thank everyone that made this trip possible, as well as all the people that shared this experience with myself and both the Moravian undergrads and graduate seminary students. God bless, and see you in the States.

-George

P.S. Do it for the glory! (you know who you are)

The President of Israel visits us!

houndsintheground — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:06:37 +0000

Israeli President Shimon Peres visited us today! Here are some photos of his visit. President Peres is in the middle wearing the blue shirt.

Jason with his Moravian shirt meeting with Pres. Peres; Oded Lipschits is on the left telling Peres about his visit to the Bethlehem of Pennsylvania.

Jason and Shimon Peres

Alfred Jones III and Comfort Fordjour with Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres also met other members of the Moravian team; pictures of them coming soon!

Oded showing Moravian Spirit!

houndsintheground — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:50:55 +0000

Here’s a photo of dig director Prof. Oded Lipschits showing his Hounds pride during one of our “rap session” dig review meetings.

Our site and our finds

houndsintheground — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:34:53 +0000

Here are some photos of our site and some of our finds!

D6; Cindy's area, with excavation director Oded Lipschits in the middle.

Part of Jason's area

More of D3, Jason' area. This part had lots and lots of "lamelekh" (royal) stamped jar handles that date to the 7th century BCE. This is also where Sue Moore found her stand, for which see earlier post.

Jason in his area; here is a pavement that was thought to be Judahite, but was just now found to be Roman-era or later.

Roman or Byzantine-era mosaic floor discovered last week. None of us are working in that part of the dig, but it's nice anyway.

A view of the middle of the dig site

An ancient wall in our site

Another view of the site

A columbarium, that is, a cave for raising pigeons. Deborah works in one of these on the site, but a different one.

This is where Rachel M. worked and Tara works now. There were some great finds down where they're looking; see below for the finds.

These are the finds that they're looking at in the picture above. The glass bottles were found there, and there were some gold earrings too.

Tara jackhammering

Sue Moore’s big find

houndsintheground — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:50:44 +0000

Here’s a ceramic stand that Sue Moore found in her square. It was used in the 7th century BCE to support pots or other objects on top. Great job Sue!

Deborah’s text reading

houndsintheground — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:37:18 +0000

Our dig has text readings on some days, usually of a spiritual nature. Deborah gave a fantastic one a couple days ago. Our site has remains of a large irrigated garden, and Deborah gave a talk about the use of gardens in expressions of power, citing the biblical story of Jezebel and Naboth’s vineyard. Here are a couple of pictures of her presentation at the dig site.

Reflections from Cindy

houndsintheground — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:56:26 +0000

we’ve hit the half way point in this amazing journey to Israel. we’ve seen so much and have dug up more history in a day than a whole year of high school history class. to say the least this is a life altering experience that should be, if possible, experienced by anyone who is able to go. to actually see history instead of reading it in a book is completely surreal. walking on the ground and finding the tools of the ancient times makes the 4:30am wake up completely worth it!!!!! i hope the next 2 weeks will be just as eventful and meaningful as the last 2.