Prof. Jimmy Albright arrived with a total of 16 people, 6 of the students for credit. Their participation brought
the total up to ~ 50 hard workers, causing Rami to smile a lot. Work continued in front of the southern tower cleaning off the cobblestone paving that is an extension to the south of the paved entrance of the main city gate.
A Papal Nuncio* from the Papal embassy in Jerusalem was hosted by Rami & Elizabeth (see the pics below). He was shown the various areas that were being excavated & it was explained why we dig, how we dig, what we find & the objectives of the excavation. He was very impressed by every facet of the enterprise.
Elizabeth's crew moved & cleaned much dirt & stone from the Roman level of area "C". As usual, this is in preparation for the next group who will be arriving on the 17th to carry on the work in this interesting area. A small Hashmonean coin from the 2-3rd century bce was found, but not much else except the numerous, very important pottery sherds. A street was uncovered running east west, possibly turning north at the west side
of the "clinic".
Carl's "A" west also moved lots of dirt & rocks, paving the way for later crews to discover "fabulous" finds. A small bronze spatula from the Roman - Hellenistic period; most likely used for cosmetics, was found.
A small probe of 2.5 meters (~8 ft.) x 2.0 meters (~6 ft) was opened on the east side of the main city street leading to the city gate. In the pic below you see the city gate & chamber 4 at the top & the iron age main
city street running up to down at a slight angle. The pic is an aerial shot taken using a weather balloon by
Paul Bauman with the help of Shai & Judith Schwartz during the 2005 season. The area of the probe is
suitably marked. It was rapidly, with no sifting, emptied of rocks & dirt by Aaron's crew down to the level
of the street. It appears that they got down to cobblestones quite similar to the street; suggesting to Rami
that the street was wider than the 4 meters (~17 ft) that had previously been thought. The plan is to
continue the probe eastward in order to find the border of the street & the far outer city wall. Rami always
has an interesting plan for so that we won't get bored at the site !!
* Papal Nuncio (officially known as an Apostolic Nuncio) is a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy
Pictures can be enlarged by going to the photo gallery & double clicking the desired picture.