Pastor Elkin Digging in Tiberias, Israel: Notes

10-25-2006 Things are going very nicely at the dig. The group of persons spans the globe; from New Zealand, Oregon, Mass., and Yorkshire, England. We are getting along well.

Today we found a piece of porcelain from China from about the 10th century. Imagine how in the world that it got to this corner! We uncovered a collapsed column of stone that proved that the city was destroyed by an earthquake. They had it in documents from that era, but had no proof on the ground until now.

11-02-2006 Things are going very well. The work-week is now complete, and so I was able to come in town and check the email. Access at the kibbutz is very limited and awkward, and I don't want to abuse their hospitality. They have been very accommodating with all of us in and out at strange hours in very dirty clothing.

We leave here at 5:40 and are ready to work at 6:00 just as the sun peeks over the horizon. This week we have been moving large amounts of fill and rock searching for architectural elements to try to understand the various buildings better. It is very complicated because the rubble of one building became the building site of the next for over a thousand years. There are significant earthquakes here that have caused as much destruction as the multiple armies.

Last weekend we rented a car and went to Beth Shan, a fantastic Roman site destroyed finally in the earthquake of 749. There are columns 4 feet wide impaled into the pavement just where they fell all those centuries ago. The tell of the Hebrew and predecessor cities is next to the Roman city rather than underneath it, which is convenient. All is visible from the partially restored Roman amphitheater, which is in regular concert use!

We also went to Megiddo, where there are 17 distinctive rebuildings of the city on top of each other. It is a spectacular view all up and down the most fertile agricultural area in in the country. If my photos come out, I took a series of shots which I will be able to put side by side into a panorama of 270 degrees around the horizon. from atop the tell.

Tiberias is a modest city, not especially tidy, and suffering because the tourists are not coming in large numbers yet.

This week I slipped away with several folks who had access to a car and visited several sites, including the possible place where the swine rushed into the sea at Jesus' command. The whole group was bussed to another site high in the Golan. I'm not sure how in the world they put the things back together because everything around the village was a large jumble of the same kind of black basalt rock as the village. The rock of the Golan is black, but on this side of the Galilee it is brown and white. A dramatic geological difference.

That's it for now. Another week of digging coming up. I should be able to beat Charlie Atlas by then.

11-06-2006 The third week is well underway now and things are going well. The group is about a dozen again, and we're getting along just fine. The work has moved to another area within the site, literally within a stone's toss of the Galilee.

Russ will be amused to hear that his wish that my pick would break has come true. I actually struck so hard yesterday that it broke...the metal, not the wood! I was directed to break through that cement and I was going to do it. Had to finish with another pick, not nearly as nice as my John Henry.

11-09-2006 Have completed the three weeks of the dig this afternoon. Took a public bus to Haifa and am staying with the Brettlers for a day. We have a tour planned for tomorrow to several regional sites. I think I have managed to get to 14 of the national monuments; only 51 to go. Well, maybe on the next trip. On Saturday I fly to Barcelona and see Katy for several days before heading home.

Several experts have visited and tried to figure out the purpose of the stone cylinder thing that I found. No answers yet.

Today I was working on the eastern steps of the basilica where the Talmud was written in the 4th century. I found several portions of little oil lamps and other objects, among all the tons of dirt we moved. Since the work day begins as the sun peeks over the horizon at 6:00, I'm ready for bed now at 9:00. See you all in a week.