Several years ago, a naïve art history student
sat in a lecture dozing off after hours of study, when the teacher told of an
excavation in northern Israel, where the remains indicated the presence of a
synagogue. This would be an interesting opportunity, as there was the possible
chance of finding a mosaic floor (she apparently mixed up this excavation with
the one at Huqoq, but hindsight is always 20-20). So the naïve art history
student, whose knowledge of archaeology was limited to “wear a hat and be
awesome”, signed on with delusions of an
exciting far off holiday for people whose cultural understanding went further
than questioning the sanity of the Romans for building the Colosseum. In 2012, this by then considerably less
airheaded art history student began writing a blog to share the masochistic
pleasures of participating in an archaeological excavation with the good folks
at home, and to highlight some of the more eccentric phenomena
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| Our desires are...unconventional |
It is now 2015 and, as some may have noticed,
the blog has been clinically dead for a while. The past few years have been a
bit busier and seen my summers at Horvat Kur become more involved, leaving less
time for the writing of the blog. This year, I hope to change that and once
again bring you, dear reader, many stories to satisfy your desires for
information and Schadenfreude. In
2014 we documented and reviewed many of our finds years of field work during a
dedicated study season. Items from the excavation at Tel Kinrot were restored,
reorganised and carefully packaged for storage, so that they can be found again
with ease the net time they are required. For Horvat Kur, the stratigraphy and
architectural features were discussed and analysed, pottery was researched and
metal objects that came back from cleaning were photographed.
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| also guitar music, lots of guitar music |
Since the study season was so fruitful, we are once
again able to excavate for a bit, so 2015 will see us go out into the field. It
will be exciting to once again be taking most of my pictures during ‘magic hour’
(the hours just after sunrise and just before sunset), to have to dodge
randomly thrown scorpions, to feel the warm dust be kicked up, to curse and whine
about the six varieties of chicken, to sit at the Sea of Galilee and watch the
herons streak low over the water and to be involved with the buzz at the field
lab. But most of all it will be good to see the dear people of Horvat Kur
again. In the meantime, look forward to some archaeological topics, both
serious and nonsensical.
Signing off for now
