This morning (before the sun was even up), Willeke gave a short tour of the excavation site to the newly arrived co-director, one of his students, and me. I'm totally in wonder at the site. In each of my former projects, I could throw a stone over the stie we excavated. Here I can barely see from one edge to the other.

Millions of pot sherds crunch underfoot when walking around. (Even one potsherd in my previous projects in northern Europe would have been cause for celebration.) Hundreds of crumbling walls of mudbrick and limestone clearly depict where buildings once stood. It takes no imagination whatsoever to see them. The walls and foundations are so obvious that the contrast to projects like the Iceland one, where we had to use sophisticated electronic equipment to search for them underground, just doesn't compare.

The wind out at the site keeps the temperature down, but makes it hard to hear sometimes, and will almost certainly contribute to the rugged look of a field archaeologist for anyone spending much time in it.


Mud-brick wall at dawn.



One of the larger mud-brick walls.



A scattering of pottery sherds and other debris.



A couple of the trainees drawing their trench. Note the background: all the little hummocks are wall foundations.



What an old coin looks like before it's cleaned and conserved. I have no idea what this one is, or how old it is. If I find out, I'll let you know. This is finds registry item # 0001 and was picked up on the surface of the site the day before I arrived.