Saturday in Karak

This is me today, at the edge of Karak Castle with the glacis of the castle in the background

Greetings,

This morning we visited the castle located next door to where we are staying. Tour buses come each day and park out front of the Rest House. Most of them are filled with Europeans, mostly French, because the French control this castle during the Crusades. Many excavations have taken place at the castle, in fact today we saw a crew from the department of Antiquities digging.

We are able to enter the castle with out charge all summer whenever we have time. I hope to visit several more times this summer, this ought to inspire me for my medieval history course in the fall.

This afternoon we had a chance to go into the city to change money and do some shopping. Tomorrow we begin our "normal" schedule of rising at 4AM, breakfast at 4:30AM, leaving Karak at 5 AM and on the site by about 5:30 to 5:45AM. This will be followed by a break at about 9:30 and we complete our digging for the day at 12:30 and head back to the camp. After we cleanup we will have lunch and then a rest period. Then we will have lab work and paperwork to complete.

Out at the site, we need to get our squares started, there is a great deal of rocks and debris since we have not excavated here since 2001. I think we are ready but 4:30AM will come quickly.

John Wineland
Karak, Jordan

Karak Restaurant as seen from Karak Castle

This is a view from the same vantage point as previous one. We eat lunch eat day inside the building (through the glass doors in the center) and dinner out on the veranda in the evening. Note the minaret of a mosque on the sky line in the upper right hand side of the picture.

Karak Resthouse as seen from Karak Castle

The Rest House where the team is staying as seen from high atop the castle wall. You can see our yellow school buses parked out front. Note the dry moat with the modern walkway to the castle in the lower part of the picture. Also look on the upper left of the photo to see the Dead Sea in the distance. (remember you can click on the picture to enlarge it.)