The rest of the standard work day

  Megiddo, Israel
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Here are few more details of our standard day:
 
As we dig throughout the day, we are almost constantly finding pottery sherds. They can vary from dull utilitarian pottery to very fine, thin, painted and polished pottery. Sometimes we find specialty pieces that were part of cult stands or chalices and the like. Those are of the very finest quality. Very rarely we find whole vessels. This year we found a complete oil lamp, and two small jugs.  We frequently find pieces of animal bone, and sometimes teeth. We find flints, used for different household tasks. Sometimes we find "pounders" (stones used to, logically enough, pound things) and pumice grind stones. On very happy occasions we find beads or other kinds of jewelry or ornamentation. Those are rare. But mostly we find broken pottery, it is everywhere on the tel. In some squares (4 meters by 4 meters) we may fill with pottery sherds three buckets or more in one day.
 
After breakfast, we're back at work by 09:30 at the latest. We work from 09:30 until 11:00 when we have a "water break." Water is specifically mentioned to remind everyone to re-hydrate. We should be drinking at least 3 liters (about 3 quarts) of water during a six-hour work day. The water is pretty warm by 11:00 or 12:00 so we have to remind (and sometimes force) ourselves to drink. We have a break of 20 to 30 minutes, drink water, sit and chat, drink more water, perhaps have a snack of Pringles, goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or similar things, drink still more water, perhaps sing some songs (especially area K) and finally drink some more water.
 
The last work session is from around 11:20 until 1:00. We usually start wrapping things up about 12:30: clearing out the last dirt, sweeping the squares by hand with soft brushes to get a good look at what's been revealed, taking photos if necessary and taking levels. Taking levels means measuring the absolute altitude above sea-level of floor surfaces, walls and other finds. This allows widely separate squares to be compared with each other to estimate historical strata in order to piece together a view of how the city would have appeared in various stages of its development. That may sound complicated, but with the modern instruments we use, it's not difficult at all.
 
At 1:00 permission is given to head down to the busses. We pick up the pottery buckets - each one with a specific label giving date and location dug, and plastic bags full of bones, flints and shells and walk briskly down to the busses. Sinking into our chairs with a delighted sigh (or at least a sigh of some sort), we direct the air conditioning vents on our faces and revel in the cool air.
 
Arriving back at the kibbutz by about 1:20, we take the pottery buckets to the processing area and fill each one with enough water to cover the sherds. They are allowed to soak for 24 hours before being washed. From the processing area we head immediately off to lunch in the cafeteria, about a quarter mile's walk to the north.

Lunch at the cafeteria

Lunch is the best meal of the day; it is the meat meal. Since according to kosher rules, one cannot mix meat and dairy meals, we have a meat meal at lunch and a dairy meal for dinner. Lunch is copious and pretty good.

Liz goes for the hummus at the salad bar

 
Lunch is absorbed, inhaled, and generally gulped down pretty quickly. The diggers observe two hours of "quiet time" from about 2:15 to 4:15. This allows those who want to take a nap to do so. As the dig has progressed, most of us began taking naps several times a week, if not every day.
 
At 4:15 there is pottery washing. We come to the processing area, fill buckets with clean water, and pick up a small brush.

Pottery washing in the processing area

We pull chairs together by area (J, H, Q etc) and take the buckets from our previous day's work in our own squares to wash. It must be washed so that it can be "read."

Kristen washing pottery

Reading pottery involves pouring it on a table so that a seasoned archeologist, expert at potter recognition can look it over, not the forms and types to reach conclusions about what was going on in the square and the level excavated. What was the quality, how much was there, and what period appears to be the origin: Iron 2A, Iron 2B, Late Bronze etc?
 
This process can easily end at 6:00. Archeology students taking classes and digging for credit, have nightly classes at 6:00. The rest of us rest, write e-mails, read or do laundry.
 
Our Youth Corps group gets together for a snack and some social time on Tuesday evening at 6:00. Since our work week runs from Sunday until Thursday, Tuesday is our Wednesday - "hump day", the middle of the week, a good time to get together. This allows us to have a compass check of sorts and find out how everyone is doing. We usually serve soft drinks, beer for those old enough to have some if they like (21 by Youth Corps rules) and chips, peanuts or some other snack.
 
Dinner is served at 7:00 pm. At 8:00 pm there is a lecture open to everyone on various archeological topics: the history of the excavations of Megiddo

Prof Finkelstein gives an evening lecture

, the use of horses in warfare during the Israelite period, women's domestic religious practices, tombs of the kings of Israel, and gaming practices in Israel were some of the topics covered.
 
By 8:30 pm many of us are ready to go to bed, more and more of us as the dig has progressed. The younger folks may stay up a while longer and chat or write e-mails, journals etc.  Never far from our mind is the fact that we have to be on the bus by 4:55 the next morning....