Israel Bound
I am flying to Israel tonight to do some post-excavation work with Dr. Shimon Gibson on our Mt. Zion project. Today marks the end of the sixth week of excavating and I was only able to be present for the first two weeks, as reported previously Week One and Week Two. We had three teams come in for two weeks sessions and each team has been so very enthusiastic, hardworking, and dedicated, as was the case last summer and last spring. I hope some of you who read this Blog regularly will consider joining us in 2009. We will put up details about those dates and opportunities soon at our main Mt Zion site.
I am quite anxious to see the site now at the end of our summer season, to discuss what we have found with Dr. Gibson and Rafi Lewis, our field archaeologist and supervisor, and access what is next for this important project. I plan to post full reports with photos next week so stand by for lots more. I do know we have had some really spectacular and interesting finds, but until I have time to see the site and get a thorough briefing, I will hold off on reporting. I will post one photo here to show how deep we have gotten in the main central area we opened just last summer. It is truly quite amazing and the intact condition of these structures bodes well for our sense that we are in an area with incredibly well preserved remains from the Byzantine and Roman periods.
James Tabor
P.S. I also wanted to say to regular readers of this Blog that my time has been quite limited during July for posting due to being in Israel for the dig, then returning to my “day job” as Chair of our Department of Religious Studies at UNC Charlotte. However, that is not to say there is any lack of things to report and discuss. I have been saving up quite a few things and will try to get to them soon.