Tuesday, July 12th on the dig

Quite a day today – both in finds and size of the team. In addition to the “regular” team, we had a large group of IDF soldiers and YU students who joined the team for the day, and we had something like 180 to 200 people working on the tell today. This was particularly important in the gate area, as we we cleaned surface and opened quite a few squares – which will help us clarify the “big picture” of this enormous architectural complex.

Here are two clips of the work in the gate area! It’s like something out of a movie…

And here is the daily summary of the finds:

Area A: The team is working in Iron I in one square – with tons of Iron I pottery – including a complete juglet, as well as a very interesting stone (?) bead. In the other square they are deep in the 9th cent BCE Iron IIA destruction level – and they have quite a few restorable or complete vessels.

Area D: As mentioned above, we had a very big team in this area today, and we opened up a whole bunch of new squares. The 3 major phases in this area (9th, 10th and 11th cent BCE) can be seen in quite a few places, with all kinds of nice finds. Also, more and more architectural elements, both of monumental stones and brick walls are beginning to be recognized, as well as several well-defined rooms. In the metallurgical area they are still working hard to define the extent of the metallurgical activities.

Area E: The two donkeys are almost completely excavated – but unfortunately, parts of both skeletons are under deep balks. So while we will get major parts of the skeletons, parts of both will be missing…

Area F: The F team was digging in MB, LB, Iron I, and Iron IIA, with some nice finds, including an almost complete seeminly MB jar in a collapse, a very nice bone/ivory object from the LB, and a nice Iron IIA floor.

Area K: More and more architecture and restorable vessels are popping up, as well as some very interesting “installations” covered with plaster. We still have a lot of questions about this area – but things are looking good!

Here are some pictures: