We are in our last week of excavation. We have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week for regular excavation and then two days off (Friday and Saturday). Some of the group will travel to Petra on Thursday and return Friday. I decided to go back again to Petra and see somethings I did not see last time. Then next Sunday and Monday we do wrap up at the site, that will be drawings, final photos etc. Then a week from tomorrow we take all of the material and tools to Amman.
So we are all working hard to make the most of the time we have left here at the site. The time is going quickly.
Dr. Ted Carruth from Lipscomb University is now removing the balk of square that he first started in 1997. Here he is on the outside of the gate.
Here is a view from inside the gate complex looking east towards the Fajj. In this photo you can see Linda Perkins in the foreground removing the balk with assistance from A. J. Fry. In the distance you can see Melissa Spong working on her balk.
In Area B (gate area) we opened a new square today. Dr. Don Garner, Carson-Newman College and his crew moved over from Area A to work on this special project. Here we see in the foreground Jihad Haroun, Department of Antiquities of Jordan, Don Garner, Megan Love Mid America Nazarene University, and Emily Dew from UNC-Chapel Hill working hard to get this square going. We hope that this square will help us understand the dimensions of the gate and perhaps shed some light concerning the blocking walls.
Here Linda Perkins and A. J. Fry Mid America Nazarene University are excavating the in front of one of the pier walls and a blocking wall.
Here is a video which shows some of the work in Area B. It is a 360 degree view taken from one of the gate towers.
Over in Area A you can see the exterior wall of the fortress and a parallel casemate wall. Note the massive tumble of stones.
Here is the crew in Area A, from left to right, Dr. Michael VanZant, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Emily Saunders, Carson-Newman College, and Dr. Randall Cloud, Mid-America Nazarene University.
It was hot today and very little wind until after our "second breakfast". Here is part of the crew in Area D, from left to right, Crystalyn Oswald, Mid-America Nazarene University, Dr. Gerald Keown, Gardner-Webb University, and Dr. Miriam Perkins, Emmanuel School of Religion.
Here is another view of their square. You can see a large limestone block on the left, and not visible is a theshold just past the sandbags in the foreground. From left to right is Miriam Perkins, Crystalyn Oswald, and Gerald Keown.
Over near the northwest corner of the fortress, John Mark Wade, Emmanuel School of right supervises the progress of the work in Hadassah Penwell's square.
Here Hadassah Penwell, Johnson Bible College, breaks one of the many rocks in her square.In archaeology often we work with a small pick and trowel but sometimes we need to use a bigger pick to work through a hard packed surface. In this video clip, Emily Dew releases some frustration by using a big pick.
Tonight I close with a photo of Jacob Isbell a student at Mid-America Nazarene University. Yesterday I did not get a good photo him so I asked him to pose for this one. Here he is taking a break from the work in Area D.
Everyone is doing well, some of group traveled to the home of one of the Department of Antiquities to eat dinner. I decided to stay here to finish the blog.
Remember to see earlier posts you can check the blog at http://krp2009.blogspot.com
If you need to contact me my email address is wineland@kcu.edu
John Wineland
Karak, Jordan
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