Digging in the Dirt

We were given this amazing opportunity by our next door neighbor to go on a real live archaeological dig. It's the kind of dig that people pay big money for. The last time the team was at this site was nine years ago. It's in the West Bank near Ramallah, so the Intifada made it almost impossible to get an excavation team to volunteer. The Israel Antiquities Authority approved the dig this year. The Israeli Army was notified. The inhabitants of some of the houses in the area were notified, so everything was cleared. The only requirement the IDF made was that the archaeological team hire 2 armed guards to keep watch while the dig was in process. It really wasn't dangerous, though...I promise!

Our next door neighbor is a photo journalist and does amazing videos on proving the authenticity of the Bible. That will have to be a later post. Anyway, he had filmed this particular team in the past and developed friendships with them. He was excited about actually being able to dig this time and not being behind the camera. They were needing more people to help dig, so he asked if we would be interested. We jumped on the opportunity.

So....GB, Pres, and I met him outside our apartment door at 6:00 yesterday morning. We drove north of Jerusalem on Hwy 60 through the Israeli security walls and into the West Bank. I absolutely love that area of Israel. There's just something about it that I can't explain. There's an inner connection to that area that I haven't felt in any other part of Israel, except for the Old City in Jerusalem. The overall name of the area is Samaria, and it is part of the land that was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin. Hmmm...Benjamin...maybe that's why the deep inner connection. Actually I felt this before I even knew it was Benjamin's allotment!

We arrived before the rest of the team, so we met the armed guards and let them follow us up the mountain.

Pres decided to stand on the crest of the mountain.


Joel is showing us the gates of Ai. This is the top of the left side of the north-facing gate. If you read the story in Joshua 7 & 8, north-facing is very important. The hills in the background is ancient Shiloh where the story of Eli and Samuel took place.




Pres is actually inside a chamber in the right side of the gate. All the weeds have to be removed before they can start digging.
One of the two archaeologists on site:
This is the main archaeologist, Dr. Bryant Wood (in the beige shirt):

Pres was one of the main hoss men. He can move the rock; unlike his dear ole mom in the background!
Here are some pieces of pottery I found on the site that they let me take home. Notice the pitcher handle. These pieces are at least 1000 years old!

These sticker bushes were everywhere. Believe me...they even stick through jeans! I uploaded the large size pic for these, because I wanted to show the detail.

I found these random, beautiful flowers among the thorns. It reminds me of how Yeshua sees us. We have a tendency to see all the thorns, but He sees a beautiful flower. The beauty of the flower is more noticeable than the prickliness of the thorns. I love it!
It was a great day, but we were so exhausted when we got home. I never knew archaeologists worked so hard!

If you're interested in learning more about the Associates for Biblical Research that is doing this dig, click here.

Oh, I almost forgot...Hunter is arriving in two days, and we are taking him out to this same site next Monday. So more pictures to follow....

I love you all!