Finishing the First Week

Today we end our first week of excavation. Here in Jordan Thursday is like Friday, Friday is like Sunday, Saturday is like Saturday, and Sunday is like Monday. So Thursday ends our first week of work. It has been a productive week, we are a bit head of schedule at this point. Above you see we arrive at the site just as it is getting light. You can see the rising on the horizon. The reason we go to the site so early has at least two reason, first because we avoid the hottest part of the day in the afternoon. Also the light is much better in the morning for seeing when we excavate and it is better for photographes. We take daily photographs of each square so we can record the progress of the excavation. Above you can see our photographer Tim Snow preparing to photograph a square in Area B.

Here Tim is photographing the square. before it can be photographed the square must be "cleaned". So we tidy up and actually sweep the dirt of the square to remove any footproints and anything that would distract from the square. So all tools, notebooks, and guffahs are move out of the field of vision.

In each photograph we place a scale which you can see above painted black and white so it stands out. This is a one meter stick (a meter is slight longer than a yard). You can also see a small arrow which is set to indicates north. This allows you to clearly know the the relative size of objects in the square.

Here is what our site looks like from the Fajj. You can see the loose dry soil of the Fajj and the walls of the fortress on the horizon.

Here is John Mark Wade, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, in Area D explaining the area to the group.

Also in Area D is Gerald Keown, Gardner Webb University, working hard in the hot sun with his sun block.

Thursday is also payday so at the end of the work day everyone lines up for the payday ritual of thanking the workers and they receive their pay. Here we see left to right, Dr. Jerry Mattingly, Johnson University; Jody Owens, Johnson University; Khalid Taranah, Dept of Antiquities Representative; and De. Michael VanZant Mt. Vernon Nazarene University.

Here you can see all of the workers lined up after receiving their pay. Tim Snow is on the far left.

Work resumes on Sunday so tomorrow and Saturday we can rest and get caught up on our laundry and sleep.

John Wineland
Jordan