Just a quick update for some things that occured on Friday at the dig.
In Area E, Joe Uziel, who took over for Itzik for the day, and the Area 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 building exposed in previous seasons due to the fact that traces of metallurgical related activities were discovered in the analyses conducted in this area. And in fact, an additional portion of a room from this building was discovered, and now, apparent evidence of these metallurgical related activities. As of this coming Monday, Naama and Adi, two post-docs working as part of the ERC program on early Israel (directed by Israel Finkelstein and Steve Weiner).
In Area A, we had a few interesting finds: Jill’s team, who is excavating in the 9th cent. destruction level (St. A3) is coming down on the actual remains of the destroyed houses, digging thru collapsed roofing, walls, etc, and in fact is now right on top of the actual finds themselves. An interesting aspect of this is that the exposure of the destruction in this square is being followed closely by the archaeological science team. We hope to be able to get some interesting answers about the process of destruction, the architecture of these buildings, and other things that were not always clear from previous times when this level was excavated.
Amit’s team, who is working in the Iron I levels, is coming down onto some very interesting surfaces which may have several more-or-less complete vessels of various types – but we will know more about this this week.
Louise’s team is also working in the Iron I levels and on Friday uncovered a very interesting white, plaster like surface which will require further analysis.
Over in Area F, Jeff and his team are working on the early Iron I surfaces, and Elisabetta Boarreto and part of the archaeological science team was busy there sampling the upper surface for organic remains, which may, inter alia, be useful for dating these phases. In addition, Jeff and his team have opened a new square just about the one with early Iron Age surfaces and hope to come down onto some interesting remains in the coming weeks.

Finally, the Thursday night end of week party was a lot of fun – we all had fresh pita and falafel.

Looking forward to the new week!

Aren

Today we had another great day on the dig. Quite few interesting things came up today, among which the following can be noted:
1) The 9th cent. destruction level in Area A (excavated by Jill Katz) is becoming very interesting with various parts of the collapsed buildings being found. This should provide some very interesting insights, inter alia, on the construction techniques of the houses, a topic that has not been fully understood till now.
2) Amit’s team is working in the Iron I levels and is finding many interesting features and finds, including, today, a very nicely preserved bronze arrowhead, which if I am not mistaken, is somewhat similar to Aegean style arrow heads from the LH period.
3) Jeff and his team in Area F are uncovering several levels dating to the early Iron I Philistine occupation, and these levels appear to have a lot of organic materials which may be very helpful for dating.
4) Cynthia and her team are working on the A2 (8th cent. BCE) level in Area A, and are uncovering the corner of the “4 room house” that was mostly uncovered in previous seasons.

We continue tomorrow with more and more finds…

Aren

With apologies for the delay in posting, the 2009 season started with great success on Sunday, with the appearance of the group (we are just above 60 this week). We seem to have a really nice group – and it looks like we are going to have a great time!
On Monday, excavations started, and now, following the first three days, we can definitely say that things are going really well!

Even though I look like I’m having a hard time, actually, things are going well…

We are working in several areas:
Area A, situated on the eastern side of tell, is the main excavation area. This area, directed by Alex Zukerman, is divided into several sub areas, directed (from east to west), by Amit Dagan, who is excavating is Iron I layers, Louise Hitchcock (Melbourne) who is also excavating Iron I levels, Jill Katz (YU) who is excavating from surface into the Iron IIA destruction level, and Cynthia Shafer-Eliot (Sheffield) who is also excavating from surface and has so far hit the Iron IIB levels.
In addition, we have a small probe in Area E, directed by Itzik Shai (BIU), who is excavating in the LB. In Area F, near the summit of the tell, Jeff Chadwick (BYU) is working with a small crew on various issues, at this stage mainly concentrating on the early Iron I levels.
And finally, the archaeological science team, directed by Steve Weiner, is conducting various excavations and samplings throughout the excavations.

Today, Wednesday, we had a few very interesting results. Louise and her team uncovered a complete late Iron I Philistine bell-shaped bowl, just near where we had uncovered another bowl and a strainer jug few years ago.

Here is a foto of Dean, one of Louise’s students, as he is finishing to uncover the bowl.

In Jill’s area, after just a few days of digging from surface, they are clearly on the top of the 9th cent. BCE “Hazael” destruction, which we have seen often in this area, but we now hope to uncover additional parts of the possible cultic-oriented building which in previous seasons yielded some very interesting finds. This area should have many interesting finds in the next few weeks.
Next to Jill, Cynthia’s team has come down to surface on the late 8th cent. BCE level (Stratum A2), which we have uncovered before in this area, and it seems that she is about to expose architecture and vessels.
Amit is working in Iron I levels, and should be coming up with some interesting results very soon.
Jeff reports that he is working on an early Iron I level with Myc IIIC pottery, evidence of the earliest stage of the Philistine occupation on the site.

Finally, yesterday we had a very nice tour of Tel Zayit, led by the director of the excavations, Prof. Ron Tappy.

Here is Ron and yours truly at Tel Zayit.

So that’s a quick update for some of the things going on in the first few days – more to come!

Aren

Yesterday (July 2nd) part of the team had a day of preparations for the the season. We started the day at Bar-Ilan University, where we collected materials from the project lab, then drove to Kibbutz Revadim, where we delivered the materials and checked out the accomodations (very nice – lots of new rooms too), and then headed to the tell, to go over the excavation areas, finalizing where we will be working, and other issues.
The following team members joined for the day: Alex Zukerman, Amit Dagan, Joe Uziel, Jeff Chadwick, Louise Hitchcock, Cynthia Shafer-Eliot (PhD student from the University of Sheffield, a new member of our team), Uri and Nir Reiss, and Richard Wiskin.
The tell looks in great shape, and it looks like we will have a GREAT season.

After the tell, we all drove to visit the excavations at Tel ‘Eton, directed by Avi Faust from Bar-Ilan University. This site, which is located in the southern Shephelah, just to the west of the “Green Line” is a very interesting site and Avi and his team have found very well-preserved Iron Age layers, including a very impressive late 8th century BCE destruction level (perhaps from the 701 BCE campaign of Sennacherib).

Here is a picture of Avi explaining the finds at Tel ‘Eton to us (photo courtesy of Louise Hitchcock)

On the way back to Jerusalem, I passed by a view of Tell es-Safi/Gath from Route 6 (trans-Israel highway) and took some great shots of the site, looking east. The impressive manner in which the site sticks out from its surroundings and the clearly seen white cliffs (giving the site its names: Blanche Garde [the white fort] in the Crusader period and Tell es-Safi [the pure tell in the Medieval/Modern period]) were both very obvious.

Here is one of the views of the tell – looking east from “Route 6″

Only 3 more days to go!

Aren

We are on the final stages of the countdown for the 2009 season which starts this Sunday! Things seem to be in place, plans are moving as they should, the “evil forces” around us seem to have chosen to be stay in their “holes” for the summer (….) and I looks like we will be able to say very soon: “Houston, we have liftoff!” :-)

This, Thursday, I’ll be out at BIU, Revadim and the site with some of the team, to bring some of the equipment from BIU to Revadim and have some last-minute discussions on our strategy for the season in Area A and F.

It’s definitely looking good!

Aren

On Monday evening, I was invited to give a lecture on the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations to the Tel Gezer team, directed by S. Ortiz and S. Wolff (who are staying at Naveh Shalom). Needless to say (:-), I wowed them with our finds. Steve Ortiz, co-director of the Gezer excavations will be coming to lecture to the Safi team during the excavations.
Yesterday, Tuesday evening, I drove to Ashkelon to visit the Ashkelon excavations directed by L. Stager and D. Masters. After showing me around the excavations areas and some of their finds (including some really cool stuff which I suppose they will announce in the near future), I also presented a lecture to the Ashkelon team on the excavations at Safi. As usual, Larry Stager and I argued about the interpretation of the so-called “Goliath inscription” (discussed before on the blog more than once) – but that is already a regular part of the show…
During our season, Daniel Masters will be coming to present the Safi team about the Ashkelon excavations as well.

And finally, earlier yesterday, before I drove to Ashkelon, I went to Tell es-Safi/Gath with the Itamar, the ranger from the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority to go over where we going to conduct our activities on the site (they give the OK for this, since the site is a national park and it is under their jurisdiction).

Aren

Joe has just added to the website a link to the Manual for Volunteers & Students and Schedule of “Extra Dig Activities” for the upcoming 2009 season. Please do take a look at it and feel free to download.

I do hope that in addition to the updates that will appear on the blog, we will also be able to add new materials to the website during the season.

Enjoy!
Aren

The schedule for the lectures, field trips and other “extra-dig” activities during the upcoming season at Tell es-Safi/Gath is now ready. For those of you who are interested, here is a link with the schedule:

extra dig activities for blog

Aren

Today, June 14th, we are exactly 3 weeks before the beginning of the 2009 season (July 5th-31st). Things are beginning to fall together for the season, and a few updated are in order.
First of all, in the last few weeks we have had quite a few last minute/late signups, and the team has grown to quite in impressive size.
As of today (and today I received a registration package from someone!), we will be about 60 team members in the first week, 90 in the 2nd, 80 in the 3rd, and then 25 in the 4th. In light of the small numbers that had signed up up to quite recently, this is quite a nice development, particularly in light of the tight economic situation throughout the world. Who knows – perhaps we can serve as one of the indicators that the world financial crisis is over the worst…
As far as the plans for the summer season, we will be focussing our work in Area A and most of the team will be there. Our main objectives in Area A are to excavate in the Iron Age levels and in particular, to reach various Iron Age I levels in an extensive exposure as possible, including the earlier phases of the Iron I, which in previous season have only been exposed in a very limited manner in Area A (and in Area F as well). We hope to get a nice, “robust” representation of these important phases of the early stages of the Philistine culture.
In addition, we will have a small group working in Area F doing some very focused probes (directed by Jeff Chadwick) 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) working in Area A with us, including the students in the archaeological science field school.
All told, it looks like we are going to have a great season and we should have some great finds.
I hope to keep updating on the blog, both in the preparations in the next few weeks, and needless to say, during the excavations as well.

Aren

Today, I visited the tell as part of field trip of Bar-Ilan University students to sites in Philistia. We spent about 4 and 1/5 hours on site and managed to cover a very nice amount of the major issues and finds relating to the site.
In general, the site is in great shape and the various areas show very little, if at all signs of “wear and tear” from the last time I visited. Also, due to the fact that it was a relatively dry winter, there are not a lot thorns and thistles in the excavation areas, which will make it much easier for the team when we begin working in July.
At the very end of the visit, after finishing a visit to Area C6 and portion of the siege system in the eastern side of the site, we walked by a really nice field of sunflowers that were in full bloom, just to the east of tell, right under Areas E and A.
See here some very nice pictures of this.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the sunflowers won’t be all dried up by the team the season starts, but in any case – they were nice.

I’m definitely looking forward to the season – we should have a great time – and GREAT finds!

Aren