So, the second week of excavations of the third season at Tel Tibneh has come and gone.
Here's a rundown of our progress:
We were joined this week by students from an Israeli teachers' college, which doubled and maybe tripled our manpower. On one hand, it was a lot of added work for the staff, but on the other hand, it doubled our output. We found a lot of really cool things:
In Area A we found five "rolling stones", stones which were rolled down city walls at enemy invaders as part of a town's last stand. In this case, it seems the stones are to be dated to the Bar Kokhba Revolt (ca. 132-136 CE). Very near one of the stones we also found a ballista stone which had probably been launched by the Roman attackers. We also found what may be part of a paved street which crossed into Area G.
In Area G we continued excavating more parts of the Herodian building. It's looking more and more impressive and we can't help but wonder whether it's the monumental Herodian building we've been looking for. However, despite its size and the wealth of findings from within it and from its vicinity, we've yet to come across any other impressive architectural elements like the column segments from last year.
Among the findings from this week we've got: An arrowhead likely dated to the Bar Kokhba Revolt, many Herodian-era oil lamp fragments, a stamped Hellenistic jar handle with a Greek inscription (!!), and a Jerusalem-style Second Temple era stone weight.
Some pictures:
One of the rolling stones and next to it (on the left) the smaller ballista stone:
A Jerusalem-type stone vessel base used by Jews when we were more stringent about ritual purity laws:
A beautiful sunrise at Tel Tibneh:
A Hasmonean coin:
Parts of Area A, on the ground and you can see some of the curious square tiles that were evidently part of what we believe was a paved street (though the street wasn't paved with these tiles but with rough flat stones):
A small flint blade:
Here's a rundown of our progress:
We were joined this week by students from an Israeli teachers' college, which doubled and maybe tripled our manpower. On one hand, it was a lot of added work for the staff, but on the other hand, it doubled our output. We found a lot of really cool things:
In Area A we found five "rolling stones", stones which were rolled down city walls at enemy invaders as part of a town's last stand. In this case, it seems the stones are to be dated to the Bar Kokhba Revolt (ca. 132-136 CE). Very near one of the stones we also found a ballista stone which had probably been launched by the Roman attackers. We also found what may be part of a paved street which crossed into Area G.
In Area G we continued excavating more parts of the Herodian building. It's looking more and more impressive and we can't help but wonder whether it's the monumental Herodian building we've been looking for. However, despite its size and the wealth of findings from within it and from its vicinity, we've yet to come across any other impressive architectural elements like the column segments from last year.
Among the findings from this week we've got: An arrowhead likely dated to the Bar Kokhba Revolt, many Herodian-era oil lamp fragments, a stamped Hellenistic jar handle with a Greek inscription (!!), and a Jerusalem-style Second Temple era stone weight.
Some pictures:
One of the rolling stones and next to it (on the left) the smaller ballista stone:
A Jerusalem-type stone vessel base used by Jews when we were more stringent about ritual purity laws:
A beautiful sunrise at Tel Tibneh:
A Hasmonean coin:
Parts of Area A, on the ground and you can see some of the curious square tiles that were evidently part of what we believe was a paved street (though the street wasn't paved with these tiles but with rough flat stones):
A small flint blade:
