Monday, July 06, 2009

It's Windy...

I remember when we were here three years ago...the clouds in the morning were fleeting and the air at the dig site was generally calm. Thus far on the dig we have had rather mild weather in comparison. The clouds hung around and kept things nice and "cool" until nearly breakfast time, meaning we had nearly 3 good hours of work in the morning with almost comfortable conditions!

After breakfast the sun came out and it was torture, apart from the wind. The wind, which I never remember feeling much of on the dig. However, some could argue that I spent much of my time in a cistern and have no business commenting on the windiness of the dig. So, I will leave it up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not I am a trusted source.

In addition to the wind on the site there has been a constant wind moving east across the Sea of Galilee which I can say with some certainty was not "the norm" when we were here before. It makes life easier on the Kibbutz...and makes the Sea of Galilee, which is MUCH lower than three years ago, quite choppy.

In other news, my square, F8, was covered with debris from previous years when we first opened it yesterday. Throughout the day today we worked toward removing this fill in order to get down to the previous ground level. By the end of the day I would estimate we had about a quarter of a meter (everything is metric here, you will just have to get used to it) left to remove. We also found what looks like a doorway on the south side of the square - we should begin true excavation of the square tomorrow, so an update on the doorway (and possible room attached) could be forthcoming before the end of this week.

Food For Thought: How crazy do you have to be to pay (good) money to "volunteer" to work hard for 7 hours a day? (I was going to say "all day" but since we work from 5 - 12 it didn't seem quite right)

2 comments:

MichelleH said...

I was on last year's dig team...and I had that thought once or twice myself. My verdict is that you have to be crazy enough to realize that amazing experiences are more valuable then money! :)

bsandtana said...

I would love to be there and play in the ancient sand with you guys. ;-) Truly, I think it is so neat that you two get to do this. I have one complaint on the blog, you need to post at least ONE picture per post. I know I can see your pictures on Flickr (cuz I already have), but it would make the blog nicer to have some pics.