Trip To Israel

Well, it was an exciting end to the week. In the 'pit' a COIN was found!!! Also they found some glass and, finally, the bottom floor of the pit. The prevailing opinion is that it is a mitkvah (or however you spell it -- I guess I should look that up!)

I found the pieces of a tiled floor -- even more, clumped together, not just hundreds of individual ones, but some clumps. I got very excited and thought I would find the entire floor...but I didn't. I did find a bird bone, and some pretty green glass that had sparkles of other colors in it. Some day they'll tell us what time period all of this is from. We're guessing Roman times, 30 BC to 70 AD. I guess a 100 year span isn't bad.

At our get-together last night we said goodbye to those who have stayed the first two weeks. One of our crewmembers is leaving, Volker, from Belfast. We will miss him. He's been a good guy and hard worker.

They took pictures of the areas today. We had to clean them up -- that means brushing all the stones, and the dirt, and creating tons of dust. We all were sneezing and carrying on. But it looked great. We had to take down our shade-nets because they told us they were going to take some photos from a helicopter. It turned out the helicopter was a remote-controlled minature -- something like remote-controlled gas-propelled airplanes. It was pretty funny. They did a bunch of still shots, and I even got in a couple. Who knows? Someday I may be a part of the official write-up of the Archeological Finds at Ramat Rahel!

There were no other real big finds today. I will be on a trip to Caesarea, Haifa and Akko tomorrow and get to see the Mediterranean other than from the airplane. Chances are it's going to be real hot. It'll be the last tour I take before coming home.

I must say I'm looking forward to being back home, but I will never ever forget this wonderful experience. The dig has been the highlight of the visit. I will never forget the team members or the leadership of this dig. I will bring back tons of photos and memories for a lifetime.

Until next time,
Shalom my friends!