Moving to the new room wasn't too bad. No ceiling fan sadly, but there's a decent enough breeze coming through if we leave the door album. Still hot as, but bearable. Had the usual awake at 3.30 for call to prayer, but getting used to that now. It's interesting hearing the different styles coming from different mosques in different cities. Each seems to have its own character, depending on how distorted the speakers are.
Woke up this morning to a grey sky!! We're talking the first time I've seen clouds since I left home. What a beautiful morning!! Not too hot, sky overcast, one would almost think it's about to rain!! Heaven.
Ibrahim and Maad cooked us up a treat this morning - pita bread, tomatoes and cucumber, humous, scrambled eggs
Today Dr Bob gives us a tour of the site. He reiterates that Abila was populated due to its resources, in particularly the access to water.
Even today, much of Hartha's water comes from underground springs, collected by the blue water trucks you see around the place. We passed one particular spring, and of course there they all were.
The Abila site is littered with tombs of various sizes and ornamentations. Some could only fit a single person, others (pictured here) were designed for several people.
As you can see from the map below (courtesy of the Abila project website), the site is divided into at least 8 major sites (though Site G, supervised by Cheryl and Peter, is not listed here.
Area AA and Area A (supervised by Dr Susan) were once combined as the same Area A, but later split. The site starts at the top of the Tell (the name given to "mountains" that are primarily made up of both man made detritus and natural materials that cover areas of previous occupation).
After the split, Area AA refers to the the deep excavations east of the church of Area A. So far the level has revealed signs of Ummayad and Byzantine Period occupation - we don't have a clear Roman period this stage, generally because the Byzantines tended to "rake things over. You may find some signs of Roman period material, but then you find Hellenistic walls, and Hellenistic pottery made locally, not so much imported. Area AA and Area A posses the longest of occupational layers, all the way down to bedrock, possibly 8 m below the surface. Area AA is of higher elevation, leading down to Area A, the Byzantine period church.
Area E - a five aisle Byzantine church (with three apses) and eccliastical structure (including the atrium) which, in a feat of major construction work, had been expanded from an earlier Byzantine church structure which possessed only three aisles, and a single apse. This is the site that Dr Bob would be supervising, and is the site that I will be working on, alongside Aaron, Jennifer, Hannah, Luke (these last three from John Brown Uni in Arkansas) and the team of 15 or so locals we'll be supervising.
Dr Bob's goal is to create a top plan of this site to use as signage for the Dept of Antiquities in Jordan. The aim is to neaten up the site and excavate a particular section which Dr Bob believes will be a cistern, an indication that the section may have been a baptistry of some sort. There is a water channel leading to this particular mound that we'll be attempting to clear. Dr Bob believes it has to be another cistern The dirt from this section will be "dumbed" on another section, which, probing has found, covers a mosaic floor. The dirt will act simply as a further protection of the mosaic that is already covered. According to Dr Bob, someone will simply need to excavate that later.
Not listed on the Map is Area G, excavation of this site supervised by Peter Helman and Cheryl Eaton. A Single Apse Basilica, it's difficult to date it precisely, but probably 6th - 8th Century. It's unique in the sense that there aren't any other single apse churches that have been discovered at Abila. The goal for the summer is to basically to determine the significance of various riooms located at the south end of the church (the church is E facing). Along the south end there are two doors, leading to various rooms. The aim is to determine the purpose of these rooms. The easternmost doorway also has a staircase, again whose purpose is unknown. Here the aim is to determine the purpose of this particular room, whether as a storage room for vestments, or for liturgical/sacremental implements. There is also some cosmetic work to be done on the site.
Come 11.30, with our tour of the various sites completed, we return to the compound for lunch, followed by free time till 4pm. Cheryl and Dr Susan then give us a crash course in documenting our particular square (ie section of the excavation to which we're assigned). In particular the focus is on drawing a 'top plan', a scale representation of what our particular square looks like from directly above. Everything needs to be meticulously documented on graph paper to scale, showing things such as significant rocks, structures, pottery shards (where they were unearthed) and the like. In addition to the 'Top Plan' we also need to be able to provide a bulk drawing, basically a "side on" view of our hole or pit, showing layers and strata, and in particular documenting various soil samples. After the crash course its another feast from Ibrahim and Raad, followed by free time till lights out.
That night I'm sitting outside writing and typing and am introduced to Badr, our additional security card, although this one wears a uniform and carries a gun. Apparently the Dept of Antiquities has insisted that they provide an armed 24 hour guard as well, simply as a precursion. The local chief of police later that night had turned up with a couple of his squad, and upon speaking to us and Dr David, declared that we are most welcome here, and that anything he and the police can do for us, or if there is any sign of trouble, he is at our service.
Badr's taken a particular shine to us, and asked to friend me on Facebook. I told him I didn't do Facebook, but nevertheless he wanted a picture with myself, and later a group shot with myself, Court and Olivia. However his boss later said that this shot needed to be deleted, which I did. The portrait you see hear is Olivia, Court, and myself with Maad, but somewhere in the great trashbox of Cyberspace will be one of us with Badr as well...
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