The 2007 season started on Monday, May 28 with the group setting up the various areas on the site, arranging the tools, putting up the shade netting over the loci to be dug & the breakfast area. The next day the group left Ginosar by bus at 5:30 am & by 6 o'clock were hard at work in the spots that Professors Arav (Rami), Gale (Aaron) & McNamer (Elizabeth) assigned them to.
Prof. Gale & group were put to work cleaning the northern end of the iron age cobblestone street leading to the gate. They also cleaned the outer city wall that abutted the western side of the iron age main street. Good work guys !
Rami also put a crew to work excavating chamber 3 (in thru the city gate at the back right). Lots of dirt was taken out & quite a number of pieces of charcoal were found which remain from when the city was razed in 732 BCE & the upper floors fell burning into the chamber. It appears that the north/south 9th century wall found in chamber 2 continues into chamber 3. Another small group cleaned out much debris to the east of the southern tower (at the southern side of the main city gate).
Elizabeth was in charge of a group digging the Hellenistic-Roman area on the upper north end of the site close to the "clinic". Lots of surface dirt & rocks were moved in preparation for the fantastic "finds" that will turn up next week. Right on volunteer diggers !!!!
Dr. Savage (Carl) had 2 crews working in "A" west which is inside the main city gate in the Hellenistic/Roman area. The western locus cleared lots of dirt & rocks in preparation for next week. In the eastern locus a refuge? pit was found that contained a number of interesting items. Two pieces of fallow deer (extinct in the middle east for ~ 3000 years) gives us an idea of what they ate; see the pic on left below. A number of ceramic weights used on weaving looms were found, mostly broken. One piece of ~ 6 cm. (2 1/2 in.) was found intact as seen in the pic below. Good work diggers !!
Pictures can be enlarged by going to the photo gallery & double clicking the desired picture.
Note : Interesting archaeology blog - http://archaeologydigs.blogspot.com/