So You Want to Be an Archaeologist?

Do you ever wonder what archaeologists do? Indiana Jones movies and the History Channel just don't do justice to what happens in the field. I am not an archaeologist; I am a student volunteering at an archaeological excavation. Here is what I did today:

5AM First breakfast at our dorm.
5:25 AM Fetch buckets of pottery sherds that are to be discarded and get on bus to tel (the dig site)
5:35 AM Walk up to top of Tel Akko, deposit sherds, get tools, go to assigned square
5:40 AM Sweep down square with brushes to get off all the dust that blew in, was carried in by animals, was tracked in by people who had the audacity to walk through our site after we brushed it down yesterday.
5:50 - 9:00 - finish excavating narrow strip between Persian wall and the balk (the zone between excavated squares) sorting out pottery, shells, bones, and anything else of interest. Carry buckets of dirt and rocks to wheelbarrows which will be emptied throughout the day. Remove a couple centimeters of hard-packed soil with a pickax to get down to an ancient floor. Brush dirt away continuously and carry away buckets of dirt and rocks. Take measurements with a transit and stadia rod or tape measures.
9AM - Second breakfast - it's a pretty posh dig, we get to sit in the shade at actual tables and eat food brought up from the facility where we are staying. (More about the food in another post)
9:30 - 12:00 - more excavation.
12:00 Tour of one square to see what is going on there, what layers they are working with, and what they are finding.
12:30 Bus back to dorms - carry buckets of pottery on the bus and back to the washing area.
1:15 - Lunch
1:30 - 3:30 - break
3:30 - Team meeting for PSR team (not an every day event)
4:00 - 6:00 - Wash pottery paying attention for special pieces
6:00 - Lecture (I'm doing this for degree credit) - Tonight's lecture is regarding Jewish Pilgrimage.
7:00 - Dinner
ASAP - Fall into bed - We rise again tomorrow at 4:45 AM.

Now, if you think that the heavy duty work of bucket-carrying and pickax-swinging is confined to volunteers, you are way, way off base. Archaeologists, full professors from a number of colleges and universities were doing *exactly* the same thing. Yes, they were also giving directions and assigning tasks, but they definitely worked as hard as I did or harder and got just as dirty. And they have to do enormous amounts of paperwork that the least experienced among us are spared. And they take the time to teach their students as we work.

Speaking of being dirty, I have no recollection of ever being this dirty or tired. I also don't remember ever having this much fun. I mean really, who doesn't enjoy digging in the dirt looking for treasure? And by the way, we are finding treasure in the form of extremely cool artifacts every day.

At the Dig

Today was our first dig day. The other schools have been here two weeks and done a ton of cleanup and prep work. The bus left promptly at 5:30AM for the tel, and after a short orientation, we were put to work. We cleared walls and unearthed pottery sherds, beads, and stone weights. We hauled dirt and pushed wheelbarrows. It was an awesome day, but I have never been more tired in my life.

Pottery washing photos

Kim is now a pro pottery washer. Her pieces are from the Persian era. Beth found a huge animal molar. We do not know which type of animal it came from. Melanie found the most coveted sherd, as it has writing on it. Inscriptions provide great clues about where and when pieces originated. Rebecca, Ana, Jose, Jason, & Eric, found many cool pot pieces - no Q source yet, but give us time. Posted by Nancy

Pottery Washing

We had pottery washing basic training today and then spent two hours washing pottery sherds that ranged from the Iron Age to the Persian Period. Our group washed several interesting pieces including a large piece of Iron Age jar, amphora toes, jar handles, a large tooth, and the first inscrition found in this dig. It was very cool to handle this pottery and feel a connection to the people who made it and used it and wrote on it thousands of years ago.

We're back from our trip to Jerusalem. After a 2 hour bus ride we entered the old city at the eastern gate to the plaza and the wailing wall. The wailing wall was a retaining wall for the temple mount where the temple was. This wall was built by Herod. We were in the old city on the Jewish sabbath so there were a lot of people praying at the wall. Many of the people at the wall were Orthodox Jews. One of the suprises for me was the stones we walked on through out the city were worn down and very slick from so many people walking on them over the years. From the wailing wall we entered the Moslem quarter of old town and went to a resturant where we had falafal, humus for lunch. The resturant was at the beginning of the Via Dela Rosa where Christ was thought to have carried the cross to his cruxifixication. After lunch we walked the street past the different stations of the cross that led us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the cruxifixication was thought to have taken place and where one of the possible locations of Jesus' tomb was thought to be. The church houses five different Christian Orthodox denominations. These donominatios do not get along together. We saw the Armenian and Syrian side of the Church and the Coptic side where the tomb was thought to be. This was covered with a chaple that was being visited by many tourists from all over the world. From there we walked the market place and then met our bus back to Akko.

Jason and I went down to the wailing wall and it was quite a sacred experience. It boggles the mind that so many people have prayed at this wall over the years. It was a very hot day and I ran out of energy during the visit of the Church and was glad to find a place to sit and watch the people worshiping.

Akko Tour Pictures

Akko Tour Pictures

Here's our delegation at the beginning of our tour. We weren't quite as good looking at the end, but we each had a lovely glow.