Another day of Digging

We are moving along in our work and finding some interesting things along the way.

Whenever we excavate we open up our branch of CSI Mudaybi. Here we see the CSI team photographing a human skeleton in a square near the gate of the fortress. Notice how they shade the area so there will be better lighting for photos. How did the this person die? And when? These are all questions we ask. In this photo Tim Snow is taking the picture, Front left is Leslie Bean, top left Jerry Mattingly, the Adam Bean, Any Stickler, and Josh Carter.

Here we have shot of a Bandito in action. The Bandito Jerome Prinston. Front left is Thomas Wowros, and in the center is Melissa Hope.

We get up very early (about 3:30AM) so it is long day and you need to nap when you can. Here on the bus we have Michael VanZant (left) and Jody Owens getting some shut eye.

This picture was contributed by Mark Green. A nice picture of a camel in the morning light.

We have beautiful sunrises and sunsets here in Jordan. Here is another nice shot submitted by Philip Eubanks.

John Wineland

Jordan

Week 2: Back to Work

After resting over our "weekend" it was time to get back to work on Sunday. Today I will feature a variety of scenes of our work.

Adam Bean is a first time worker at KRP. He is graduate of Johnson University and Immanuel Christian Seminary and is headed to Johns Hopkins University in the fall.

Here are two first time participants Ronaldo Denuna (left), Amy Stickler (center), both students at Garner Webb University with veteran Michael VanZant, professor at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, listening announcments before our evening meal.

This is Jerome Prinston, profession at Johnson University, another first time member of the team. I think he must normally spend his summers working for the Secret Service.

Here is the project leader Jerry Mattingly, Johnson University and our driver Hussein, both have worked with KRP since 1995.

Here is a view from the site looking out over the Fajj. The fajj served as a trade route in antiquity.

Here are two first time workers, Dwayne Howell, professor at Campbellsville University and Jerome Prinston, professor at Johnson University.

Here is part of the crew looking over the work at the site. From left to right in the front row, Adam Bean, Josh Carter, Philip Eubanks, Thomas Wowros, Gerald Keown, second row left to right, Ronaldo Denuna, and Melissa Hope.

We travel by bus to the site but in pinch we could ride camels!

Here we can see some camels in the Fajj. Many camels are brought to Jordan from Saudi Arabia in the summer because by comparsion Jordan is cooler and has more vegetation for the camels to eat. The camel is sometimes called the "ship of the desert" because it is so well designed for life in the desert and was used as transportation for humans and goods. Bedouins use the camel for many purposes, of course for transportation but also they eat the milk of the camel, use camel skins to make their tents, and camel is considered by many to be special meal for certian holidays (the "turkey of the desert"?) 

Here sitting on the tower of the Iron Age gate at the site is left to right, Michael VanZant, Leslie Bean, and Melissa VanZant.

It gets a little dusty at the site as we can see from this photo of Jody Owens, professor at Johnson University.

(Special note: The above photo is NOT staged.) Here we see, holding the sledgehammer, John Mark Wade, librarian at Emmanel Christian Seminary.*

Here in a more familiar pose is John Mark Wade.

To end on a happier note, here is the sunrise over the Fajj as seen from the site.

John Wineland
Jordan

* Editor's note [Editors have been pressed to print things since at least the time of Guttenberg. As editor of this modest endeavour, I have prided myself, up to this point, in the fact that I have always strived to avoid "yellow journalism." However I regret to inform you that I too have finally been force to yield to the pressures all editors face. (You would think that a librarian would be more sensitive to the issues of censorship and propaganda.)]

The End of the First Weekend

Greetings,

We have completed one full week of excavation and our first "weekend." As I told you before the weekend in Jordan is Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday. So things here are more like this:
Thursday = Friday
Friday = Sunday
Saturday = Saturday
Sunday = Monday
So that means we will get back to work on Sunday but for today we spent it resting, doing laundry, shopping, studying, reading, and get caught up on paperwork. One part of our team did take a trip to the Dead Sea.

It gets dirty out on the site, with a great deal of wind blown dust. I have never seen a laundry mart in Jordan so most people wash their clothes in a bucket like this.

Then we hang it up in our rooms on lines with clothes pins to dry. Things dry quickly because the air is low humidity.

Yesterday I did not finish showing you pictures from our trip up the King's Highway, the last place we stopped was al-Rabba a Roman-Byzantine site with ruins in the city of the town.

Here we see Philip Eubanks and Adam Bean taking photos over the fence at the site.

Here Friedbert Ninow prepares to photograph the site and the crew at Rabba.

If you look carefully you can see a crescent moon faintly visible over the Roman capital at Rabba.

The Department of Antiquities preserved this site. Here they stacked up several capitals that once stood along the Roman road. The modern road that runs through Rabba follows the path of the ancient King's Highway and the Roman road (Via Nova Traiana or the New Road of Trajan).

This is the Nabatean Temple at Rabba. The Nabateans had their famous capital at Petra. It was an Arab kingdom that contolled trades of precious items from the east (silks and spices) and transported it across the desert to the Mediterranean areas. They became rich from this trade and florished between 100 BC and AD 100. In AD 106 the Romans during the reign of Trajan took their land and established the Province of Arabia.

Here is an excellent picture of the valley leading down to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on the face of the earth 1388 feet below sea level. In the center of the photo in the haze you can see the Dead Sea.  In the distance on the other side of Dead Sea is the modern state of Israel.

As you descended into the Jordan Valley the tempature increases greatly. The Dead Sea/Jordan river valley is warm enough to grow tropical fruits like bananas and date palms.

The Dead Sea has been shrinking over the past 50 years and is now much smaller than it was. The water from the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea but not out. The water evaporates and this is why the water in the Dead Sea is salty, it is over 33% salts. This is extremely salty, for example the average salt levels in the ocean is less than 4%. The shrinking of the Dead Sea is caused from the diverting of the water which flows into the Jordan River and on to the Dead Sea. Israel diverts a great amount of water before it enters the Jordan River. Also as you saw earlier Jordan has built and is building dams along the rivers which run to the Dead Sea and the Jordan River.

Here a photo of the group that traveled to the Dead Sea from left to right, Daniel Hoffman, Melissa VanZant, Jody Owens, Philip Eubanks, Mark Green, Christiann DaSilva, and Michael VanZant.

We needed these days off to recover from the week and get ready for another week of work.

John Wineland
Jordan

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

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

Guest Photographer for the Blog

Greetings,

Today I thought I would share some of the wonderful photos of one member of our team, Dr. Friedbert Ninow. Friedbert is President of the Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, a seminary in Germany. In addition to his teaching, he has also been excavating in Jordan for more than twenty years. He is camera shy himself but he has a gift for photography and is a wizard with Photoshop.

So here is a sample of some of his work.

We have many types of thorns and thistles on the site. They can be beautiful but also quite painful. Here are two examples.

We also share the site with various critters including several lizards. This one blends in well with the weathered basalt.

Here is nice image of one of the thornbushes highlighted by the rising sun.

This is Dr. Don Garner, Carson Newman College, explaining the work in Area A. Don has been with KRP since the beginning in 1995.

This is Josh Carter an undergraduate student at Carson Newman College.

This is one of our bus drivers, Salah. he has worked with us since 1997.  

When Salah wants to take a nap he likes to get away from the noise and dust of the site so he drives out about a mile into the Fajj.

This is our other bus driver, Hussein. He has been working with us since the very first season in 1995. Both of our drivers have become a part of the team. They help us in so many ways and they are our good friends.

Christiann Da Silva, a recent graduate of Johnson University, is a second generation KRPer. His father Valdecy has also worked at the excavation several seasons.

I have not mentioned the important work of surveying at the site. Jeremiah McLeod, a student at Johnson University, is also and experienced surveyor and he is doing a great job.

The entire site is mapped with a grid, much like the game battleship. In fact all of the squares have been designated. The surveyor makes sure that we stay within our gridlines. He also helps us get elevations so we can place all of our finds in a 3D grid.

I will share more of Friedbert's pictures later.

John Wineland
Jordan