Sunday 8/7/2012
Return to Bet Mier (Hostel)/Field Notes
FN:
Area-C
Square- KK21
Wake: –In Jerusalem
Breakfast
Load Bus to Head back to Hostel
Bus Arrives at Hostel 11:30AM
Lunch at Hostel at 11:55 AM
Bus Departs Hostel to Kh. Q. at 12:30PM
Dig at 1-8pm
We began the morning in Jerusalem. While the weekend was one of the most phenomenal experiences of my entire life, I am ready to go back to digging this afternoon. We traveled back to Bet Meir to dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa from 1 to 8pm.
I began in my squares (KK21/KK22). We removed a significant amount of earth and fill. We still haven’t found the true Iron Age floor yet. After some time, I began to sift a section in our square where Jeremy has been working. It is some type of instillation where some pottery has been found. He has his own locus # and all his dirt needs sifting to insure all finds can be collected and recorded. I used a solo-sift. A dry solo-sift. I uncovered some small pottery, a few very small fragments of bone, tiny shell pieces, and one brunt olive pit.
After the majority of the buckets where done, I was moved back to the edge of KK21 &KK20. I worked in and around both squares. My purpose was to level out the square. This was to ensure we removed all of the fill in order to find the floor. The floor is as a part of a slop and therefore, we understand that the floor while not be a the same depth throughout the 5 by 5 square. However, as of yet, we have not been able to find a clear floor. We have two “donkey posts”, or pillars exposed. We are seeing that they may be connected. A third may also be present. We have many more questions than answers concerning these posts, whatever they are. I believe only upon further excavation and study can we determine the true function/nature of the posts.
Our hope is to soon find the floor, perhaps tomorrow. We wish to clearly date the floor as well as some evidence of walls and the infamous posts. I heard some talk during our last bucket chain and clean up that a few students might be selected to move to a new area called “W”, I believe someone said. This is an interesting development.