General Tom Foolery: A Synonym for Cinnamon!

            So last we spoke (I wrote, you read) I was describing this cobble surface we discovered.  I understand there is some confusion as to where exactly I am digging, so I will do my best to illustrate it without pictures.  I am digging in a couple of squares adjacent to the “Solomonic Gate” and the “Barracks” in what has been dubbed “Administrative Building A.”  Further to the east resides “Administrative Building B” and, you guessed it, “Administrative Building C.”  These buildings are, as of now, assumed to be public in nature because a) they lack the “four-room house” configuration typical of domestic buildings and b) a similar city plan at Megiddo suggests administrative centers just inside the main gate.  Megiddo is a comparable site because in the Bible it says that Solomon fortified Gezer, Hazor, and Megiddo at the same time, so if we take this to be true, than Gezer may have a similar layout.

            We found this cobble floor just next to the barracks but at a much higher level than the foundation of those walls.  This suggests that the 10^th century walls were reused by this later surface, probably 8^th century, which matches up with an extension to the barracks further north.  Surfaces are good because not only do they provide potential material atop them, but the material beneath them is sealed, untouched, and can be used to firmly date the stratum above.  For example, if we find mostly Iron I pottery directly under the cobbles, it was most likely constructed during the late Iron I or early Iron II periods because it couldn’t possibly be constructed before the pottery was made.

            We had to prepare the area for a photograph, however the guys on top wanted us to not only clean the surface but also weed the adjacent barracks wall and define the stones so that all of it could be captured in the picture.  That project was left for this morning, since there is no sense in cleaning and leaving it overnight before the photo.

            In this picture, you can see the cobble surface towards the top, the eastern side of the square.

            In this one, the cobble surface is at the bottom, the camera facing west.

            Here is our square at the end of Tuesday.

            And here it is again at the end of Thursday.

            That was most of the excitement from yesterday.  There was a pretty amusing scenario though that I thought I’d share.  So one of the guys from a different square is hauling some big rock and Steve warns us not to try and be macho if there is a big rock, but to get another person and haul it out safely.  I made a smart-ass comment: “What if there are girls watching?”  He calls me over and I’m thinking, “Great,” because I hate it when old people take my shit seriously.  He then gathers us around and advises us, from what appeared to be a place of experience, that all a woman cares about really is what a man can do in the “marriage bed” and that if we go giving ourselves hernias we could potentially compromise our prowess in the bedroom.  This was sufficiently uncomfortable and I hope my mother didn’t read this paragraph.

            Last night Akiva and I cracked open the bottles of Arak and grapefruit juice and had a pre-bed drink, which turned into a pre-bed-and-stay-up-playing-hearts drink, but I found my sleep to be restful and I awoke this morning feeling refreshed.  I have to drink before bed more often.

            This morning Sam was back and out first task was to clear out the cobble surface area for a photo.  We were up on the all of the barracks cutting weeds out of cracks and brushing furiously trying to get the stubborn plants to yield.  Finally, the area was clean enough to take a picture of and we all went about our days.

            The herd was back.

            Philip and Sam had the task of removing the cobble surface and digging directly below it, sifting all the dirt for any kind of material remains that might be missed by the naked eye.  It’s amazing how many important artifacts are either rocks or look a lot like rocks, so it makes it difficult to find them sometimes.  Sam found this odd conical potsherd with a hollow in it that I said was probably the leg of some zoomorphic vessel (that is, one shaped like an animal, if you’re not into the whole Greek derivatives thing).  It turns out that I was right and I felt like a real archaeologist for a little bit until I did a victory dance and surrendered the dignity I had just earned.

            I was in the center of F8 leveling another rocky area we thought might be connected to the cobbles and removing many imbedded boulders.  I am not usually one for good detail work, but I ended up pretty pleased with the result.  The hardest part is defining the balks towards the top because they get dried out and crumbly.  I didn’t think to take any pictures today, so you’ll all have to use your imaginations; it’s mostly grey dirt anyway.

            Every Friday after fruit break is a Tel Tour where we get to go around and check out the stuff that’s going on across the field.  Field West (I’m in East) is excavating some of those four-roomed houses I mentioned earlier.  They are also finding all sorts of architecture that hasn’t quite been identified.  Much of Field East is finding a destruction layer full of full vessels broken in situ, so that’s pretty neat.

            It’s Friday, so we don’t have pottery washing or anything.  It’s a free afternoon, so I think once I post this I will spend it napping or reading or something.  A lot of folks have been in the pool, but I haven’t really felt like getting sunburned yet.

            This weekend we head south to the desert to check out Arad, Masada, and the Dead Sea.  It looks to be a fun time.  I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and blog in great detail Sunday night when we get back.

Enjoy your weekends everyone.