Week One of Excavation--Area E | 6.22-26.2008

Well, it's necessary that I include at least a small amount of information concerning the area of Abila in which I currently excavate. Area E designates the late Byzantine basilica Umm el Ammad (The Mother of Columns), located at the bottom of the Qweilbah wadi, or valley, at Abila. It is an unusual three-apsed, cruciform church with over thirty basalt and limestone columns lining its interior. I've been working south of the church structure in (officially) Square 78, removing backfill and sediment deposited by a massive earth quake that actually devastated Abila in the mid-eighth century A.D. Work hasn't been nearly as meticulous as it typically is, not as much data to record or artifacts to keep. Thus far, I've found a rusted/corroded spear head, the top of a small Umayyad oil lamp, a lot of glass and larger diagnostic potsherds, and three preserved rat skeletons. My supervisor is Dr. Bob Smith of Roanoke Bible College, whom the Jordanian workers affectionately call Abu Shaitan, which literally translates “The Father of Satan.” The man is, to say the very least and with all fairness, a slave driver. Strangely enough, I somewhat enjoy moving arabay, or wheelbarrows. Like mowing a lawn, it allows me time to think and pray, both of which I enjoy considerably.

Weekend Trip to Umm Qais (Gadara) | 6.20.2008

Historically speaking, the term Decapolis was used to denote a league of ten cities, located primarily east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, that were connected by social, military, commercial, religious, and political ties for their mutual benefit. The league was formalized by the Roman General Pompey around 63 B.C. when his army occupied Syria and the Hasmonean Kingdom of the Jews. Initially, the region of the Decapolis seems to have been designed as a buffer zone between the Roman Empire and the Nabatean Arabs, but when Trajan conquered the Nabateans in A.D. 106 the need for this buffer disappeared. The region of the Decapolis was attached to a new province called Arabia Petraea with its capitol first located at Petra, and later moved to Bosra, Syria. Though the Decapolis ceased to be a political entity, the use of the name delineate the region continued.

Prior to our initial week of digging, we took our first weekend trip to Gadara, the modern city of Umm Qais and one of the ancient cities of the Decapolis. Excavation at Gadara is extensive, exhibiting Hellenistic and Roman architecture (three theaters, a temple, an octagonal basilica, a Roman bath house, paved streets, vaulted shops and colonnades). The city overlooks both the Sea of Galilee and northern Israel to the west. This is likely the same Gadara mentioned in each of the three Synoptic gospels as the land of the Gadarenes (Matt 8.28; Mk 5.1; Lk 8.26), where Jesus purportedly cast the legion of demons into a herd of swine. I find it interesting to read the biblical narrative of Jesus' interaction with the Gadarene demoniac while keeping in mind the city's proximity to the Sea of Galilee. Matthew records, “And [Jesus] said to them, 'Go.' So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters” (Matt 8.32 RSV). Gadara is actually no less than ten miles distant from the sea, meaning the herd of swine would have ran a long distance to the waters below.

An Arrival | 6.13-15.2008

Well, I apologize for my lack of correspondence. This, along with various other posts, is certainly overdue. For those who haven't given up hope of ever receiving an update, I hope this suffices for time lost and frustration.

A helpful bit of information: Click here to visit Abila's official website where information regarding the excavation and its history, along with broad historical surveys of the city of Abila, can be obtained.

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After considerable delays, two flight cancelations, and a re-routed connection through Bahrain (an island off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia), myself and nine others from John Brown University arrived in Amman, Jordan on Sunday June 15th. There we joined another group of thirty-two students and archaeologists from the USA, Denmark, and Australia, some whom I already knew from the 2006 dig season. The hotel we stayed in for two nights was really nice, meaning AC and western toilets, a much needed time of rest as we recuperated from the exhausting trip. To be honest, I'm still acclimating to the time changes and boiling Jordanian heat. While in Amman, we toured numerous excavations, including a large Roman theatre, a Roman temple dedicated to Hercules, an Umayyad (early Islamic—A.D. 634-750) palace, and several Byzantine Christian churches. I am very thankful to experience Jordanian life again. It is so wonderful to spend time with and learn from people who affirm similar values as me, yet who do so within a vastly different social, cultural, and religious context...the centrality of faith and the importance of family and friendship, the need to regard material possessions as means to pursue and enrich relationships, not as ends in themselves, not to mention nargeela, or hookah, and native Jordanian cuisine. The morning of our first day in Amman, I ate the following for breakfast: three hard-boiled eggs, ten to twelve halved tomato and cucumber slices, loads of real humus and flat bread, a slice of buttered toast with strawberry jam, green olives, orange juice, tea, and Turkish coffee.

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Setting Up Camp 6.17.2008
Tuesday morning, our group traveled north two hours to Hartha, Jordan, a small village of 8,000 located close to our dig site, the ancient Decapolis city of Abila. We stay in a four-story madrasa, or school. We set up camp, unloaded and assembled our tools and excavation gear, cleaned the filthy restrooms converting some into shower stalls, and settled into a week of orientational meetings and seminars—i.e., how to perform pottery washing and reading, how to fulfill registry duties, including recording and stowing data, etc. We actually began digging the following Monday. Our daily schedule is as follows:

4:00 a.m. Rising Bell
4:15 a.m. Breakfast—consisting of congealed grits/porridge
4:55 a.m. Leave for the site of Abila
5:15 a.m. Work begins (slowly)
9:00 a.m. Second breakfast—consisting of hard a hard-boiled egg, a tomato, a cucumber, pita bread and Happy Cow cheese spread, a peach and a plum.
9:30 a.m. Work resumes
12:30 p.m. Work in field ends
1:00 p.m. Lunch
3:00 p.m. Rest—meaning showers and sweaty naps
4:00 p.m. Pottery reading and assigned chores
6:00 p.m. Supper
7:00 p.m. Lectures
10:00 p.m. Lights out

English/Arabic Dig Vocabulary—Lesson 1 (A Transliteration)

Good morning Sabah el khair
(Reply) Sabah el noor
Good Evening Masa el khair
(Reply) Masa el noor
Hello Marhaba
Welcome Ahlan we-sahlan
Greetings Assalam 'alaikoom
Goodbye Ma'assalama
Please Min fadlak
Min fadlik (f)
Thank you Shukran
My name is... Ismi
Yes Na am
No La a
Slowly Shway shway
Trowel Mastarin
Pick Mankush
Brush Furshay
Wheelbarrow Arabay
Sherds Fukhar
Glass Gazzaz
Bone Adim
Stone Hajar