While many students and faculty were enjoying Spring Break here, several staff members went off to Ashkelon to continue preparations for the summer. The greatest challenge to making progress on various projects? The rain. Dr. Kate Birney, in Ashkelon working on an assessment of the Hellenistic period ceramic corpus, was challenged to improvise a work space during periods of heavy rain. The solution? One of our storage containers. I'll include a picture, the poor quality is my fault not hers, to give you a sense of just how dreary it can get.
Dr. Daniel Master, co-director of the excavation, was also in Ashkelon walking the site with Josh Walton, one of the grid supervisors, selecting the location for a new excavation area on the North Tell. We should know more soon about where that work will take place.
Volunteer applications are due April 7th. With several new areas opening and Grid 51 racing towards 604 B.C.E. it promises to be an exciting season. Get yours in today!