It Begins Again!

Tomorrow we leave for Tel Gezer, Israel! We are actually more excited this year than last, which surprised me a bit. Then I realized that we know what to expect this year, unlike last May. We had no idea what was coming our way. This year, not only do we have pictures in our mind of what's there, but we have roles to play in the whole operation.

John will be "in charge" of the sifters, those intrepid souls who wash all the mud off the findings at the bottom of the cistern, throw away the rocks they find, and put them in buckets to be sent my way. The mud, charcoal (for carbon dating) - special handling there - bones, and artifacts, mostly in pieces, are all valuable to the archaeologists in dating the cistern.

I will be the Registrar, the one who will supervise the numbering of the buckets that come up from the sifters, do a final wash, and dry them out so the archaeologists can inspect them, looking for artifacts that can date the cistern. I'm hoping to have at least one other person to help with all this. I've been told that we will find many more artifacts this year because we are at the bottom of the well.

I will also be recording information found in the artifacts by Dan Warner, the lead archaeologist from NOBTS (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) and Tsvika Tsuk, a Director for the Israel Antiquities Department (I'm drawing a blank on his actual title, but you get the drift, right?) Believe it or not, it's exciting. They, of course, see value in what I would probably throw away, so I'm glad they are the ones doing the sorting. The logs I will be generating are important to the validity of the dig, so I'm very careful to put down the right information.

We usually "do" Jerusalem the first weekend for sightseeing, and then go back toward the end for more touring of Biblical sites. However, Pope Francis is visiting Israel May 24-26, so we will go away from Jerusalem into Galilee, Caesarea, or Megiddo (think Armageddon) first to avoid the congestion in the Old City.

I can hardly wait to see friends we made last year who are also returning and becoming friends with the "rookies." It's amazing how close we get when digging in the mud!

I will try to post every night right before bedtime. If I miss one, it's either because my computer has no power or I fell asleep! Love you all.

Marge