It was a little less hot and humid today which made for a much more pleasant day of digging.
Before we get to the news of the day, here is a view of the volunteers while on the Rampart Walk during their field trip to Jerusalem last Friday.
Images of Grid 38 provided by Shimi. Thank you! Walls are coming down and scarabs are being found!
Lots of fun to be had in Grid 38!
In Grid 47 today, as is true most days, we were busy finding new walls. The new walls we uncovered today were particularly interesting. In Grid 47 we are working to uncover the full extent of a late-second century/early-third century C.E. Roman odeon, a small, roofed theatre. Underneath the odeon is a first century C.E. Roman period basilica with attached bouletarian. The walls found today come from that earlier building and belong to a part of the building that might have housed an archives. We are hopeful a little more digging might reveal a floor to go with the walls.
Today we also worked on excavating material belonging to the Crusader period, 1153-1187. The large plastered basin visible in the center of the picture may be a wine vat. This vat is part of a Crusader period reoccupation of a building that dates to the 10th century.
Fun times in Grid 51! Yes, that's right -- snake eggs in the baulk! Dana is working hard to find them a good home. One which will be far, far outside of the grid.
Remember, if you are looking for Nichole's blog, you can find it here!