Hello all once again,
It’s Larry Gill again. I know it’s been awhile since I last posted, but that’s due to the number of wonderful people that are also posting. Over the past few weeks, I have had an absolutely wonderful and educational time. Let’s start out with what’s been going on in the best square ever, M21. So since I last posted, we were really just starting the excavation process of our square. Since then, we have cut through several surface layers and the leveling layers beneath them. Our job in this square is incredibly important as it reveals the dating of the road surfaces and even the dating of the stylobate of the stoa. As we dug deeper and deeper, our square became affectionately known as, and pardon my French, The Pit to Hell. We have given our trench this nomenclature due to the fact that when one is excavating in the bottom of the trench, the sun and the heat are pretty intense. However, the reward for digging in this convection oven of a pit has been certainly worth it all. We have found wonderful pieces of dateable pottery as well as 20 fantastic coins, the most on the site this year. Digging in this trench is also worth the heat, thanks to my phenomenal trench mates. Katelin, Larry, and Lauren are some pretty fantastic people who never cease to make me laugh no matter how tired I am, or perhaps madness has set in. Today we finished the final touches on our square by clearing out a water feature. Hopefully, the finds form this trench provide invaluable information for the research of this dig.
Outside of the splendiferous time digging, we visited several sites since my last post. These sites have included; Caesarea Maritima, Capernaum, Sephoris, Akko, and several others. All these sites were beautiful experiences, that will always be impactful experiences. Caesarea will always be my favorite site that we visit during this trip. It’s beauty and architecture will never cease to inspire me, the swim in the Mediterranean doesn’t hurt either I suppose. The trips to these sites are just as important as the excavation itself because the provide perspective for the architecture and lifestyle of all the various sites around Israel in correspondence with what is happening at Omrit.
After a long day of digging and travelling, there is nothing quite as refreshing as soccer after dinner. Playing soccer with all the new people that I have met, and some professors, is certainly a great way to bond with the people that I see every day and spend hours upon hours with. I don’t think that I will ever have a truly bad time while I am doing what I love surrounded with some incredible and intelligent people. So, until my next post, this is Larry Gill saying goodbye.
Carthage Mandeure Excavations 