Sunrise and Birthdays

Hello,

We have two more full days in the field with our local workers. Today it was cooler than normal and we actually saw some clouds out that site. Above is the sunrise this morning.



Here are the clouds approaching from the west. It is a nice change to see the clouds and have the cooler temperatures.



Last night some of our team visited the home of Khaled Tarawneh, Wilbur Reid provided me with three pictures from last nights dinner. Here from left to right is Emily Saunders, Hadassah Penwell, Miriam Perkins, Linda Perkins, Emily Dew, Melissa Spong, and Mike VanZant.


Here Jerry Mattingly and Hadassah Penwell sample from the large buffet.

This is the group in the reception room waiting for the dinner.

Here two of our workers pose for a photo while seating on one of the large lintels that once spanned the space between the pier walls of the gate.



Our work is hard on our clothes, Emily Saunders repaired her shoes with duct tape.


The pier walls of the gate are clearly defined here in the morning sun.


This is photo from inside the chamber of the Iron Gate, this view gives a sense of large size of the gate.

Here is another view of gate area. The large theshold is covered by sand bags, you can see the bench on the left side of the photo.

Here a crew is working hard on a new square in the gate area. From left to right, Emily Dew, Don Garner, and Megan Love.

Also in Area B Melissa Spong and Ted Carruth work just inside the gate.

Here several of our crew pose with Dr. Miriam Perkins, Miriam and Linda Perkins left for Amman today and they fly home tomorrow. Left to right Melissa Spong, Miriam Perkins, Hadassah Penwell, Emily Dew, and kneeling Emily Saunders.


In Area A they are working hard in a deep square. The wall on the right is the exterior wall of the fortress and the wall in the center is probably part of a casemate wall. From left to right Mike VanZant, Emily Saunders, Jerry Mattingly, and Randy Cloud.

In Area D they exposed a nice doorway in the wall with a bench adjacent to the wall. Here from left to right is Khalid Tarawneh, Byran Love, and Jacob Isbell.


In this square in Area D they are now reaching bedrock, they have exposed a large theshold of a door. The doorway is at the edge of their square so we will have to wait until the next season to find out what is in that room. From left to right, Gerald Keown, Miriam Perkins, and Crystalyn Oswald.


Here Gerald Keown is working to clear a niche just inside the doorway.


This evening at dinner we celebrated two birthdays, Jim Pace andEmily Saunders.

Here the honored guests go first through the buffet line. Left to right Jim Pace, Emily Saunders, and our chef.

The entire group sang the happy birthday song to them.

Then they opened their gifts, here Jimmy receives a box of Snickers.

Emily received a scarf.


Our chef prepared a beautiful cake for us to enjoy.

One of bus drivers Salah danced to celebrate the occasion.



Even our mascot, Kitler looked on with intense excitement (many of us think that he looks like a certain mid-20th century dicator.)


As the day ended we had a wonderful view of the Jordan river valley, in the center of the photo if you look carefully you can see the Dead Sea.

John Wineland
Karak, Jordan