Foggy Morning at Mudaybi

(The internet connection went down last night at the Karak Rest house so I was unable to finish and post my blog, so today I am updating it and posting material from yesterday)

Greetings,

The weather was unusual today, we had some fog very early this morning as we went to the site. Here is the sunrise this morning from our site. It was foggy and rather cool early this morning and the temperature only 87F.


Here is our surveyor Paul Mabry setting up his total station this morning, with the fog in the background.


This is Area D with John Mark Wade looking over the progress of the work in the Iron Age domestic area.



Here in Area D are Hadassah Penwell and Khalid Taranah. Notice they are trying to keep warm. Also note the huge number of rocks behind them.

Here we see a good crew in Mike VanSant's square in Area A. From left to right, Emily Saunders, Mike VanSant (standing) Jihad Haroun (he joined us this week for a few days, Jihad is the head of the Antiquities Department in the Zarka District and an old friend of the KRP), and Jerry Mattingly


Wilbur Reid is making the rounds with his camera this morning.



Ralph Carnathan is the "stickman" for our surveyor.

Here is Ted Carruth with one of our workers. We worked hard in Area B moving literally tons of rocks to clear debris from gate area. Remember it has been 8 years since we last excavated at Mudaybi.

This is a video of Abu Hajar breaking rocks in Area B

On the way back to the Rest House we passed about 50 camels.

Emily Dew had her 19th birthday today, and here she is helping to move some rocks during the cleanup session at Area B.

Here is this years KRP group photo.

Well it is late again, and I am tired, I will write more tomorrow.
Remember that you can always view the blog at this address
http://krp2009.blogspot.com

You can email me at wineland@kcu.edu

John Wineland
Karak, Jordan

Hello Everyone,

All is well here in Karak, our work is progressing well. We are now past the half way point in our work. Everyone enjoyed their time in Petra and today it was business as usual.

I have tried something new today, you will have to let me know how well it works. My digital camera can take video, so I have uploaded a short video of Petra. It is a view in the center of the city and it shows the Great Temple and the Roman road and some of the tomb facade. If this works I might try loading a short video from the site tomorrow. Just click the arrow.

Here is Valdecy da Silva, this was his last day with us, he is flying out about 1AM tonight. We will miss him, have a safe trip. Here he is working in his square in Area D.


This is the Area D group photo. With all of the local workers included. Second from the left is Khalid Tarawna, our Department of Antiquities Representative. Next to him is Valdecy DaSilva, Hadassah Penwell, Gerald Keown, John Mark Wade, and Miriam Perkins, along with the local workers.



This is Khalid and Hadasah Penwell working in Area D, they look like bandits with their faces covered to keep out the dust. The weather was cooler than usual today but very windy which blows around a great deal of dust.



Also in Area D, this Area supervisor, John Mark Wade giving advice to Gerald Keown and Miriam Perkins.

Over in Area B, the gate area, this is Linda Perkins and Friedbert Ninow working hard in one of the chambers that has a curious blocking wall.

Now working in same square but on the other side of the pier wall is Ted Carruth and Melissa Spong.
In Area A, area supervisor Mike VanSant and Emily Saunders are working hard to unearth a wall. Up above Jim Pace gives advice as the work progresses.

Also in Area A today is Don Garner and Emily Dew they have uncovered what appears to the "bedrock" soil layer in their square.

Our photographer Tim Snow was working hard today, taking photos of the exterior walls of the site in addition to his other duties. Here he is recording the soil layers in Don Garner and Emily Dew's square.

Later Tim is almost standing on his head to prepare for a picture in Area B, in Ted Carruth and Melissa Spong's square.



Jim Pace was able to come out to the site for the first time today. He works hard back in Karak each day recording and processing all of our material. He injured his ankle a week or two before the excavation began and he has had a brace on ankle since he arrived in Jordan. But he is feeling better and we were glad to have him on site today.

This is a scene from last Thusday which is "pay day" for our workers. They push around the bus to receive their weekly pay.

Here Ted Carruth hands the pay to his worker, while Jerry Mattingly and Khalid Tarawna look on. Pay day is always the highlight of the week for the workers as you might expect.


Last Thursday our surveyor Paul Mabry, found a lizard during our "second breakfast" he fed it some water melon.

On our way back into Karak, Thursday afternoon we followed this small pickup with a sheep in the back. This sheep was probably on a one way trip to local butcher shop.




It is late again and I am tired. The weather has been cooler than usual with more clouds and dust in the air which helps produce some beautiful sunsets. We had a short worship service this evening in Karak, Valdacy DaSilva spoke. Good night.

John Wineland
Karak, Jordan

Big Trip to Petra

Greetings,

I am sorry I have not posted anything for two days now. All is well here but we have been very busy. We ended our work an hour early on Thursday and then most everyone traveled on our big trip to the fantastic site called Petra. Then Friday we got up early (while a little later than our work schedule) 5AM. We ate breakfast and then visited Petra from about 6AM to 1pm, then we ate lunch and headed back to camp.


On our way south to the site of Petra, we stopped for an overview of the Crusader castle called Shobak. It is the earliest Crusader castle in Jordan, even older than Karak. It was built in 1115 by Baldwin I. The castle surrender in 1189, 2 years after the Crusaders were defeated at the battle of the Hattin. The Crusaders surrendered only after many had gone blind from starvation.

We stayed in a nice hotel with an overlook of the Petra area. They had a large swimming pool that several people enjoyed and then we had dinner at 8pm. We were up at 5AM, breakfast at 5:30AM and were in the site by about 6AM. We were able to use a pass given to us by the Department of Antiquities so we did not have to pay the 21 Jordanian Dinars to get in (about $37/person).



We were the first people to walk into the site. Arriving early in the morning has several advantages. You beat the crowds of tourists and you get to walk into the site with very little noise. Also you get to spend several hours at the site before it begins to get hot. On our walk to the gorge entrance to the site we passed the Obelisk tomb. Petra has many tombs that have been carved into the red Nubian sandstone.



The Nubian sandstone is soft enough to be carved easily and it has various shades and hues which add to its beauty. Here you can see a section with several bands of color.


As we walked through the gorge or Siq, we saw channels which the Nabateans used to control water flow into the city. Here you can see the channel which they used and a portion of the Roman period road which ran through the Siq.



The Nabateans were masters of water collection, storage, and routing. In fact their techniques have been studied recently to help Jordan deal with its water problems. Here you can clearly see the a portion of the ceramic tile used to carry the water through the Siq.



The Nabateans flourished from about 200BC to around AD 100, they derived their wealth from long distance trade of luxuary items (silks, spices, incense, etc.) and they operated as "middlemen" in the trade between the east (India and China) and the Mediterranean area. Eventually the Romans took control over the region in AD 106. The Nabateans were from Northern Arabian and used camel caravans to carry the goods. Above you see part of a carving that has partially worn away, which shows a camel caravan. You can see the the feet of a camel on the left with a person standing on the right.


Then we came to the most famous site of Petra. Here you can see the Treasury as viewed through the Siq with and camel seated in front. This is a site which inspires awe every time I have seen it.


We arrived early enough so their were no tourists or even vendors which makes the experience even better. The "Treasury" or al-Khazneh is quite popular with Hollywood, of course made most famous by Indiana Jones.

Here is Indy at Petra in the Last Crusade.

Petra is also featured in the new Transformers movie.

We did not see Indy or Transformers but we did see these camels waiting to give tourists ride around Petra.

We walked further into the city and passed these camels with their colorful saddles.

We later passed this unique Roman theater which is carved from the sandstone.

We explored the ancient ruins by following the Roman road into the center of the city.
This is a view of the Roman road with the remains of a Triumphal Entry.



On the slope above the Roman is the Great Temple of Petra, which has been excavated by a team from Brown University.

There is a nice museum inside the site with features items found at the site. Above is a nice example of the unique Nabatean pottery.

Some of us climbed many steps up a trail to el Deir or the Monastery. Along the way are beautiful views like this one.

Here you must walk between the cliff walls and this large block of standstone.


Here is the "Monastery" which looks like the "Treasury" but it is much large. Here Ralph Carnathan stands near the doorway.



Here you have another view. You might be able to see some tourists in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

As Tim Snow and I headed back down we saw this donkey loaded with 2 tanks of propane, used by the small tourist shops to run their generators.

We stopped to visit the large Byzantine church as we headed back towards the entrance. you can see the beautiful mosaics which represent the different seasons of the year.



One of the floor mosaics of the church featured an image of a camel, which seemed quite appropiate at Petra.

It getting late so I will end for now. Tomorrow we are back to our usually schedule with a wake up call at 3:45 AM.


Here is donkey loaded with water bottles.

John Wineland
Karak, Jordan