Tag: Bethsaida

With the current high level of tensions in Jerusalem and the other occupied Palestinian territories following recent abductions and murders, the schedule for the Palestine of Jesus course has been amended slightly.

Planned visits to sites on the West Bank have been deleted from the program: Nablus on Wednesday afternoon, Hebron on Thursday, and Bethany on Friday. The visit to Bethany was moved up to Wednesday afternoon in place of the trip to Nablus. On Thursday the College program went to Caesarea Maritima where they explored the archaeological areas as well as enjoying an opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean. Those keen to justify their “Med Sea, Dead Sea, Red Sea” t-shirts will be pleased with that change to the program!

For my part, I spent the morning on the site at Bethsaida. This allowed me to collect the essential data about the 26 coins found this season at Bethsaida, as well as to check on progress with Area T.

 

The southern end of the 10m x 4m ‘square’ that we opened this year has now been excavated to about 1.5m depth.

 

This has exposed the continuation of W1200 first located in 2012 as well as a Syrian fox hole:

 

Meanwhile, in the northern end of the square the crew has cleaned up the area nicely and exposed a well-preserved packed earth floor.

 

Next step is to prepare the technical drawings of the area:

 

In the evening we enjoyed a fascinating lecture under the stars by Richard Freund and Harry Joel. They explained how the portable Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems can now assist us to identify locations for excavation, in place of the traditional intuitive methods still much preferred by many field archaeologists.

 

Today was our final day on the dig at Bethsaida for the middle session this year.

There were no major finds, not even a few last minute coins. However, we did get to finish the square off nicely with clean baulks and a level floor. By the time time we stopped for breakfast at 9.00am the crew was in a celebratory mood.

The team in Area T has been comprised of more or less even numbers of students from Charles Sturt University in Australia and Truman State University in USA. It has been a delight to see the relationships blossom as we make new friends, and move beyond politeness to genuine encounter. By the end of the two weeks we were no longer Aussies and Americans, but Bethsaida alumni.

This map from today’s field diary gives some idea of how much we have achieved these past two weeks. The square in the bottom left (L4008) is essentially the result of our efforts in 2012, while the square in the top left (L4007) is the stage we reached by the end of the 4 week session in 2013. (We also did some further work in L4008 during 2013.) The large square to the right represents our efforts so far this year, with further work anticipated during the next two weeks. (I shall be back on Thursday, 3 July, to check on the progress made and update my field diary records.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To summarise, we have found the continuation of wall W1202 into locus 4009, and most likely the continuation of W1200 from 2012 into L4009 as well. In addition, we have a new set of walls (W1203 and W1204) that date from a later period, running across the earlier walls and perhaps making some use of them. Further, we have an impressive doorway between L4007 and L4009. In the top right corner we found a pit used as a kiln to melt limestone objects ‘harvested’ from the more elite areas on top of the mound to create fertiliser. This most likely reflects the use of the site during part of the Ottoman period (1517–1918 CE). The pit/kiln helps to explain the three major sets of finds so far in Area T: (1) Roman nails, (2) Mamluk pottery and coins (1250–1517 CE), and (3) large numbers of Ottoman smoking pipes.

As we left the site today, I was struck by a pair of gloves left behind by one of the volunteers. The gloves seem to form a pair of praying hands. Are they praying for release from servitude, or for peace in the Holy Land?

 

 

Today was our hottest day so far, and very humid—with more of the same and then some predicted for tomorrow. We were dripping with perspiration and the dust was turned to trickles of mud.

 

We began the day with the official photographic session for Area T, as project photographer worked his magic (and his aerobatic skills) to capture some great pictures for the dig records.

 

We took a break from the digging to go visit the wet sifting work station. With some pretty basic equipment we are able to capture evidence of plant life in earlier times, as well as fauna such as fish and small rodents.

 

Late afternoon we gathered for the final pottery reading of this middle session of the 2014 season. The finds are washed at the dig and then we sort and count them, before they are identified, recorded, and photographed.

 

After dinner we had our final evening lecture. This lecture was presented by Dr Mark Appold from Truman State University. He spoke about the disciples who came from Bethsaida and their contributions to earliest Christianity.

 

In Area T today we made amazing progress, and found something we had not dared to anticipate.

As we cleared up the northern half of our square, we exposed more of the wall running N/S along the western edge of our square. This is part of a structure, presumably Mamluk, that cuts across the top of the earlier structure whose walls were found during the excavations in  2012 and 2013.

The gem today was the discovery of an impressive stone doorway, complete with an interesting carving on a rock and a stone door socket.

 

 

Early in the process of finding this entrance to our locus from 2023 and 2013, Renee found  nails and an iron spike (chisel):

 

It was easy work today as the spirits were so high. Indeed, I had trouble pulling them up for a break at breakfast time, when popsicles were delivered, and again when it was time to get on there bus. We are all eager to get back onto our little square of paradise first thing in the morning.