Conservation
During the fall/winter of 2005/2006 conservation work was
conducted on the city gate & the walls of the 4 chambers just inside the
city gate. Orna Cohen, a conservator with vast experience at many
other sites which include Hatzor & the Galilee boat at Kibbutz Ginosar, was
in charge of the project. She was assisted by an experienced crew of
Druze workman from the Golan Heights. Looking carefully at the 2
pictures below on the left & the pictures on the photo gallery notice that
there are horizontal pieces of wood placed in the walls 4 - 5 feet up from
the floor. The original wood from this iron age entrance (~3000 years
ago) was burned to charcoal when the city was razed in 732 BCE & the upper
floors collapsed onto the gate/chamber area. The large basalt stones
above the burned wood were carefully removed by the workman, the areas
cleaned & new pine wood was installed. The upper stones were then
replaced as shown in the body of the pictures. The original wood was
probably oak & was most likely placed in the walls to give the structure a
little flexibility in the event of an earthquake. A new threshold,
made of wood, was placed at the base of the city gate doors (not
shown).
Orna also continued restoration during the winter of
2006/2007 on the eastern city wall adjacent to the iron age main city
road. Her workman used boulders, rocks & dirt that had been
removed the previous seasons from the main city road. See the 2
pictures below on the right & notice the upper areas of restoration.
Updated
June 12, 2007
Pictures can be enlarged by going to the photo gallery & double cliking
the desired picture.
Note : Interesting archaeology blog -
http://archaeologydigs.blogspot.com/