With the arrival of Dr. Kate Birney in Ashkelon all three area supervisors are on site and today we toured the grid with Co-Director Daniel Master.
Grid 38. One of the topics of discussion today was further refining collection techniques for the microarchaeology team.
And where to dump dirt, a question we often spend an inordinate amount of time discussing. The good news for those volunteers sent to Gri 38? Josh expects only a day or two of cleaning will be necessary before digging will start.
Then it was on to Grid 50 where Kate was pleased to see the condition of the dirt and to note that fewer animals had taken up residence in the grid. She anticipates hitting the mudbrick floored Persian building early in the season and then finding glorious things further below.
In fact, the first amazing discovery of the season was made this very morning! Here, Josh, Kate and Dan discuss the chronology of a large opaque container and a finer green implement found near it
The bowl Kate is holding is quite nice too.
Finally, it was on to Grid 47 where, happily, the shadecloths are hung. Cleanup here will take more than a day or two but we should be digging soon enough.
Here, Dan is showing Kate the proposed reconstruction for the odeon.
The morning ended with the annual tool draft. Josh, Kate and I selected our tools, stocked our containers and we are all set to go Sunday morning. Only a few more days now!