Traveling Light: Old stuff and cool hikes

Hey friends. I forgot I had a blog. So I forgot to post stuff to it. Oops. Life has picked up pace with midterms, more trips, and daily excursions. We have also (finally) begun an archaeological dig on campus which is taking up a lot of spare time.

The dig is happening right where our drive way used to be - early this summer they were putting in water pipes and discovered a what looked like a small wall and the top of what appeared to be a 1st century arch (being Jerusalam, and this being Mount Zion, every dig - even for water pipes - must be observed by a specialist in ancient remains). So everything was filled back in until a proper dig could be organized. All of the laborers on the dig are students at JUC - many from the archaeology class - and we are being overseen by an archaeologist from the Israeli antiquities department. Today was only the second day of the dig and we are about three feet deep. We found some interesting things - ask me later about it, I can't post findings online.

(View of the Mediterranean from Ashkelon - a big place for kite surfing, apparently)

Our last field study was to the South and we spent three days exploring sites near the Elah Valley (between Gath and Bethlehem where the fight between David and Goliath took place), the Philistine city of Ashkelon, the craters of Mahktesh Ramon, the Canaanite and Israelite ruins at Tel-Arad (including an Israelite temple - the only one ever excavated), and the amazing ruins of Lachish. We hiked through the Wadi Zin, swam in the Dead Sea, crossed lines and swam under waterfalls at Ein Gedi, etc. etc. etc.

Ashkelon has the oldest arch in the world - which is really impressive because it was made of mudbricks around 1850 BC. The arch was next used by the Romans nearly 2000 years later.

Oh yeah. We went swimming in the Mediterranean at sunset. (Riane and Jacqueline with me)

My feet in the Mediterranean - felt warm, but in a refreshing way. Extremely salty water!

Markers at one of the sites (I think this was the city where Samson met Delilah) - they mark the layers for each level in the excavation.

The ruins of ancient Lachish (destroyed by both Assyria and Babylon). We had class on the fortress walls.

Overlooking Mahktesh Ramon: there are 3 mahkteshes (craters) in the Negev, Ramon is the largest.

Tel-Arad is both the location of an ancient Canaanite city (foreground) and a later Israelite fortress (background). It's out in the Negev with little resources so archaeologists believe that this location had a different climate during the Canaanite period. The Israelite fortress was basically part of an early-warning system in case of attack from Egypt. It was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.