Today, a group of us went up to the tell for some pre-season planning and work. The tell looked great and from what we could see, there was very little damage in the various areas.
There were two objectives in the work at the tell today.
The first was to continue checking out the possible evidence for LB metalurgical activities in Area E on the eastern side of the tell. As I noted awhile ago, in analyses of materials from the western section of Area E carried out at the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at Weizmann Institute of Science, traces of metal were found. Due to the possibility that this might indicate an area in which metalurgical activities were conducted in the late LB, the ERC project “Early Israel” led by Israel Finkelstien (TAU) and Steve Weiner (WIS) were very interested in checking this area. After visiting the site earlier this spring, it was decided that before additional excavation was conducted, additional samples should be taken from the relevant section. And so, today, a group of us (Steve, Israel, Naama, Adi, Joe, Amit, Shirly and yours truly) went to the site to clean the relevant section and then take samples.
Here are a few pictures from the work today:
Naama, Steve, Adi and Israel examining the section
Naama taking a sample from the section
Steve and Adi registering the samples.
The 2nd reason that we went to the tell was so that Joe, Amit, Nir and I could meet and discuss some of the logistics of the coming season. This included deciding on the location of the breakfast area (a new area for old timers!), where the bathroom would be located (no change…), and other, mainly technical issues.
All of the above is clearly an indication that the season is just around the corner! From what I can tell, it looks like we will be having a great season – I have a very good feeling about it!
Aren
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May 30, 2009 at 1:55 am
Achish Melek Gat
The search for LB metalurgical activities in the western section of Area E should yield significant results. In the 2002 report for that area (SQ 93-A and vicinity) it was noted that “a fair amount of slag was found in … rubbish heap [66305]” — (see p.3 of 2002 Report of Excavation, Area E-6, by Jeff Chadwick and Julia Aitesta). The report suggested that the “rubbish heap” was an LB feature contemporary with the wall foundations and stone pavement and tabun of the LB building in that area. The probability that some small scale domestic bronze production was occurring in the pavement area of that building, utilizing the tabun, seems quite high. Good luck in the renewed search.
Achish Melek Gat
June 14, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Count down for the 2009 season « The Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations Official (and Unofficial) Weblog
[...] and perhaps, a small group working with Itzik Shai in Area E (depending on the results of the analyses carried out a few weeks ago. In addition, we will have a large team of archaeological scientists (up to 22-23 in the 3rd week) [...]
July 12, 2009 at 6:34 am
Update for Friday 10/7 « The Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations Official (and Unofficial) Weblog
[...] E team uncovered what appears to be a nice collection of slag, perhaps metal slag. As I explained before, the reason for the excavation in this area was to expose an additional portion of the late LB [...]