The first wave is here and the cleaning of the grids is underway! We landed yesterday morning and then went right to work in an effort to keep ourselves awake. Yesterday it was an inspection of the grids, a trip to the pottery compound to pull some pottery to display to a tour group coming through in the afternoon and an afternoon of, "Are you awake? Stay awake."
Today we got to work on the usual list of pre-season chores. Assessing and updating the computers, registering objects that were conserved and/or restored over the winter, cleaning the grids and starting research projects. Robyn, a square supervisor in Grid 47, was hard at work today pulling glass of the Islamic period in preparation for working up the material for inclusion in the Islamic period publication. Next up? Some OCHRE and whatever project comes next. Later this week we have the deconstruction and moving of the epic stone tower in Grid 47 as we prepare to finish excavation of the odeon. Good pictures coming soon!
To get an idea of what we came back to, here are a couple of pictures of the grids we viewed yesterday.
Here, Josh inspects Grid 38 where he will be surpervising the excavation of a Philistine house. Overall, he was pleased with the condition of the grid after a particularly rainy winter although he did express some concern about animal activity.
Grod 47, site of the Roman odeon, looks good all things considered. During the winter the grid was accidentally flooded with a meter and a half of water when a pipe burst. It doesn't look too much worse for the wear, however, and once everyone gets here cleaning shouldn't take too long.