Two Weeks of Excavations

Welcome back to my blog everybody! The last several weeks have been quite busy. I thought I'd update you all on what I've been up to. Classes have ended, and the summer "vacation" has begun. Contrary to the label, this summer is anything but a vacation. After the end of the year I spent the first few week or so writing all the papers I had to finish recently. I finished them all with plenty of time to spare, but that's not all I've been up to.

In the beginning of July I spent a week participating in the excavations at Megiddo. It was very nice to be excavating again, and I was excited to be covered in dirt where I belong. I am participating in both the Megiddo Excavation and the Azekah Excavation this summer in order to get first-hand experience with which to write a comparison and side-by-side review of the two excavations for the TAU International Archaeology MA Program blog. In about a month that blog post should come out on the International Program website, so keep a look-out for it! My work for the program blog was also recently featured on the Jerusalem Post website. They are running a featured page where they focus on student life in Israel, and three of my blog posts (as well as one by another student) were shared by them. Check out their website at http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Student-Life for more.

My time at Megiddo was short, but I learned a lot. I try to take every opportunity I can to go out and do some excavations, and this was just such an opportunity. I will go into more detail in my official post for the program in August, so I won't talk too much about it now. I worked hard, met some nice people, ate some decent food, and had fun. In the end, learning and having fun is what's important, so it was a success. I participated in the 3rd week of the Megiddo excavations, and the following week I returned to Tel Aviv to finish my papers. The excavation continued for one more week, and from the pictures online it looked like everyone had a lot of fun.

After a one-week hiatus it was time for another excavation. I am participating in the Lautenschlager Azekah Expedition for one week, which started this past Saturday night. Today ended the first week, and what a busy week it was! We woke up every day at 4am, excavated for eight hours, then did office work, classes and lectures in the afternoon before going to sleep around 9:30. I just got home a few hours ago, and I'm ready to sleep for days. The work is hard and tiresome, but very fulfilling. Even after only five days we have already made great progress. It makes all the bruises, cuts, blisters and sores worth it. On the weekends I'm back in Tel Aviv to rest up, do laundry, and maybe hit the beach for a few hours. I'll discuss the specifics and details in my post in August, so for now I'll say stay tuned, and good night!