Masada

This past month I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Tel Aviv University Masada dig, which was so exciting and a fantastic experience! I dug for three weeks and it was really great to get to meet new people and go up to the mountain to dig each day, plus getting to have tours and lectures by people and professors I admire and learned so much from.

I began the dig in Area A, which is in the western part of the palace. We were digging through some residential areas. I spent some time in another area of the palace as well, and finally spent the last week in Area C, which was in a cave (seems like a theme for me, but caves are fun so no complaints here)!

Masada Sunrise

View to the West near the palace

Looking up at Masada from the cable car area below

With dig friends!

Tower view on top of Masada

Rainy day tour around the base of Masada

Rainy day - behind me you can see the waterfall which is rare, a result of the rain

Reenacting the Roman camps around Masada's base during the rainy day tour

Myself & Masada

From the stop along the way to the dig each week

Looking down from Masada

Sunrise - each morning pottery washing

More sunrise from the pottery washing area at the base of Masada where we stayed

In the Area C cave

I also spent my birthday digging, which was fantastic!

Ending the day right!

My second semester just began, and I'm still working the publications office as well as doing some work for another dig which I will be participating in this summer. I have classes about Jerusalem, the Persian-Hellenistic periods, animal bones, botanical archaeology, continued Hittite, the Transjordan, and a couple other history classes. It's busy, but worthwhile and I'm enjoying it - especially after the excavation, which was a needed break!

First Semester: (almost) done

The first semester of classes for my MA in Archaeology at Tel Aviv University has finished; standing in front of me are papers and an exam. In classes we studied sites like Megiddo, Lachish, and Khirbet Qeiyafa in the context of the Bronze-Iron Ages and studying people groups like the Philistines and Canaanites and how they settled, which we see reflected in archaeology. I also studied how to look at objects in context and will continue to learn Hittite through next semester.

I am working on campus this semester to make money for rent and food. I want to thank those who helped with my tuition. Your gifts helped pay for this year's studies; I have one more year after this one and will write a thesis to complete the degree. If you want to give to help me fund my degree, here is the link to my GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/ma-in-archaeology-in-israel/donations. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Here are photos from our field trip to Azekah (where we will dig this summer) and Tel Gath:

View from Tel Azekah

View of Tel Gath

Here are some photos from the day we went to visit and dig at the gigantic Bet Shemesh Salvage Excavation that our professor is leading:

View from across the street of the excavation and modern town.

View of the old excavations. There's a water cistern on this side as well.

View of the salvage dig in progress

Digging and recording

Animal bones in the area we were digging

Learning to section, which means creating straight lines for clean squares

Zippori also made the news with a cool find from the Mossad Pool, where I was digging earlier this year. Read about the find here.

Mossad Pool at Zippori

Pagan Bull found in the pool

The holidays included some meals with classmates from my program and time in Yafo:

I'm also continuing to work during the break, besides the other thing I'll be doing (which is below). Here's a photo from the university:

The exciting news is that I'm going to dig at Masada for a few weeks over the break, so I'll make sure to take photos and blog about it after!

Here are more photos from the Yafo port, in the area where I live currently: