Well, the 1st week has ended successfully. Volunteers were brought by Dr's. Rami Arav (7), Elizabeth McNamer (20), Aaron Gale (11) plus a few independents made for a total of ~50. Well done! They were joined by Dr's. Carl Savage & Kate Rafael who were in charge of area A West. Elizabeth & group worked the familiar "C" area. Aaron & students worked the wall area near the beginning of the iron age main city street. At the end of the week we were joined by Hanan Shafir our very competent photographer.
Good progress was made in every area after the netting was set up & tool sorted out. Much of the 1st days were spent removing top soil that either dated from the Syrian army times or dirt that was deposited previous seasons.
Interesting finds such as the basalt fishing weight (above) & the amber bead were uncovered. The find of the week was of course the gold coin (the 1st one I've seen at Bethsaida). It's an Antoninus Pius who was the 15th Roman emperor in the middle of the 2nd century CE. Gold coins are "imperial", which means that they were minted in Rome, never in the provinces.
Link to all the pictures I took this season - CLICK HERE
Note : Interesting archaeology blog - http://archaeologydigs.blogspot.com
Human interest - http://www.communitycorrespondent.com/kptm/, search for Judith Schwartz