1st Day Off

Today we went on a busman's holiday because on our day off we visited archaeological sites. We travel to Baluaa a large Iron Age site near the Wadi al Mujib (Biblical Arnon see Numbers 21 & 22; Deut 2 & 3). We travel the along the ancient route of the King's Highway (Num. 20 & 21). We also travel to the rim of the Wadi al Mujib which some people call the Grand Canyon of Jordan.

Also we drove out to the site of Balua we past some people working in the fields harvesting wheat. This is scene which is similar to Biblical times. Remember Ruth in the fields of Moab.

Here is another view of the wheatfields of Moab. The area near Balua is known as the breadbasket of Jordan.

Here is an example of the Bedouin tent. The nomadic Bedouin way of life is quickly disappearing.

Here is a another view of the Bedouin camp.

The Bedouin raise sheep and goats and move them from place to place to find food and water.

Here is the group visiting Balua, this is a large Iron Age site Friedbert Ninow is the director of the excavation, so we got a personal insiders tour of the site.

Here you can from left to right Friedbert Ninow, Jerome Prinston, Gerald Keown, Tim Snow, Daniel Hoffman, and John Mark Wade at Balua.

This is a casemate wall (2 parallel walls with short crossing walls froming small rooms) at Balua. These type of walls are very common in the Iron Age.

Here we see some Karate action at Balua. From left to right, Josh Carter, Christiann DaSilva, Melissa Hope and Melissa VanZant.

Here are the four veterans who have been at every season of KRP since 1995. On the left Dr. Jerry Mattingly, Johnson University, Dr. Don Garner, Carson-Newman College, Hussein our driver, and Dr. John Wineland, Kentucky Christian University. They are standing on the edge of the Wadi al Mujib, the "Grand Canyon" of Jordan.

Water availablity is critcal for an arid country like Jordan. In the last six years or so a dam has been built to collect the water in the Mujib and it has now formed a large lake.

Well tomorrow I will post more of this trip along with some other things.

John Wineland
Jordan