We've been super busy since we ended the dig week on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to do an Update for that day and our days off all in one. So here goes...
Things are re-clarifying on the periodization of the 'red palace'. The jar rims we thought looked like they belonged to the Iron Age were, as I suspected but had to confirm, from Middle Bronze Age ridge-neck jars and pithoi (large jars), rare for this area, and newly published. That part of the case is solved. But the IA cooking pot rim ID was unmistakable. We're comfortable with the idea that a late wall addition foundation was dug down into the MBA layer, and the cooking pot found its way down there in this manner. But we're still probing in another area to get more pottery 'reads' at the same level.
Enjoy the pics from Thursday.
Friday and Saturday were days off, but very busy for me because of the reports I'm working on. Other staff members were also working on a variety of projects. Much of the team went on a very special weekend field trip that included Petra and an overnight in the Wadi Rum in Bedouin-style tents (a bit modernized, of course!), including lamb cooked in the ground. I think they were also heading down to Aqaba, but I haven't seen any of them yet, because they haven't returned. Hopefully the weather was as beautiful as it was here in Amman.
Dr Leen and Kathleen Ritmeyer arrived late Saturday evening, and Dr Lorenzo Nigro (director of the Jericho Excavations) is also now here to go out to the site Sunday morning for an earful of my "talk from the top of Sodom." Leen and Lorenzo will be giving lectures to the Team over the next few days.
Thanks for the truck donations. Keep them coming!
Blessings to you all.
Troweling Down
