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: