Walking through a historical site, it is easy to romanticize the past. You see a temple where Jesus worshipped, or a site that was the birthplace of a key character in the past, and you want to imagine a time that is nothing like where we live now.
Nevan Carling, a student of Trinity College, USA found a small ceramic horse’s head on the Tel, and won Find of the Day.
There are so many horses in Akko. You see beautiful Arab horses pulling carts in the streets of Akko, there is a beach called The Beach of the Horses where horses are taken to swim, and the team has found other horse-related artefacts on the tel in the past. Akko has a rich equestrian heritage.
According to Professor Martha Risser of Trinity College, one of our ceramics experts, this horse head is a bit different. “It has been made out of two slabs of clay, pressed together and is hollow. This is a completely different construction to other finds, where we’ve seen a more solid form. This is the finest one so far, I think.”
How was it used? Who made it? What is its significance in the layer?
Each find raises as many questions as it answers. Watch this spot for further information as it is revealed.
Pottery washing has commenced at the Nautical College in the afternoons. Students and staff sit under the trees and wash the finds of the morning. It’s not the most exciting job, but it can be a lot of fun to enjoy the fresh air, chat and listen to music while you scrub.
Today our ‘Imma’, Rachel Merhav joined in the fun, eating popsicles and observing the goings on in the pottery washing yard.
Once again, Jamie Quartermaine (in collaboration with Michael Sugerman) won the Find of the Day with the rock that he believes comes from the newly discovered rampart on the western side of the Tel Akko.
Compared to working in the field, working in a dig’s office can seem less exciting, but those in the office can tell you the work never ends and my work begins the second the bus leaves in the morning for the tel. The tasks never go in the same order, but they can usually be the same. The day almost always starts with reorganizing the buckets of pottery to be washed so the oldest are up front and get washed before any new buckets. At some point later in the day, I will help collect the dried pottery and bring it to the office where each bag will be registered and other finds such as bones, shell, slag, etc. will be noted on the tag along with what registration number to start marking the pottery pieces with. The bags are then each emptied into a box to have the diagnostic sherds (rims, bases, handles, decoration) and body sherds are separated and a form is filled out with the baskets information in preparation for the pottery readings done later in the day. Each day there can be around 3-10 bags of pottery to be collected and the few tables we have for pottery are always almost covered in the boxes, each separated by area, square, locus, and then date.
After readings, the diagnostics are kept and put aside to be marked, a task usually done by either students who had to stay behind in the mornings, or an assistant who doesn’t have much work at the time. Each piece is marked with the season’s number, its locus, basket number, and registration number. Another task with the pottery is taking pieces meant for mending and finding the connecting points between sherds. Once found, a line is drawn in chalk across the joining point of both pieces along with a unique symbol so the mender would know where to glue pieces together.
Later in the day, I usually start my other job of collecting survey pottery. Those baskets are collected in crates by date and checked off on my copy of the basket list. Each one is given a label of what day it has and then is placed in Professor Arty’s room for her to read. Once read, I take note of which baskets she has discarded and which she has kept to be marked. Those pieces are marked and then the reading sheets for each of those baskets are entered into the database (opening date, basket number, trench number, sherds discarded, how many kept to be marked, dating of sherds) along with comments on any special finds found with the pottery and the marked pottery is packed depending on basket number. I also will try to find the time to enter the new special find information into the database for the regular dig. In that case, it’s just the basket number along with whatever special finds like bone, shell, slag, etc. and any details on those available.
After all that is done, if there is time I will help either pack the shell bags in larger bags according to basket number or help pack bags of pottery for restoration at Haifa University. It may seem like boring work to some, but all that those in the office do, even the assistants’ work, is essential for us to learn even more about Tel Akko. The scary part is, all that is done before 1pm.
Archaeology experience in tel akko is a fantastic experience.
Everyday we wake up at 4:00 AM, thank to my dear room mate’s alarm. Then we will leave the camp at 5:25 AM and go to the tel to start work. Normally we will have breakfast at 8:30 am and finish work at 12:30 PM.
According to Lenin:“He who does not work shall not eat.” We all try to work hard and make enough contribution for getting our food.
By Henry Chang….
Digging in RR4 is hard but enjoyable. I personally have a lot of passion for archaeology in a hope to find something unique and interesting. Nevertheless, working in RR4 teaches me what are the realities and what are not. After three weeks of digging in RR4, I realize that archaeology is not about finding wonderful stuff but about how to face the reality. Every single day, I go on the Tel with a lot of hope and faith that this square has something special inside; however, as time goes by, I figure that this square is full of rubbish with a mixed context. Working in this square requires one to have a heart full of passion in completing the whole puzzle of the Tel. I believe my work in RR4 is not meaningless. Through the works my team and I have done in this square, we know how the military, Mr. Dothan, and modern construction put the area into a mess. Despite the fact that I am working in a square that requires much hard work with vicious environment such as the sun, I still enjoy (a lot) working in RR4 because of two people in my square.
J.T. is my supervisor in RR4. He is the first person I know from this group. We met in the airport just because we wore the hat of Penn State. Finding him is like discovering a lost brother whom I have not seen for a long time. Like me, he is a person full of passion in archaeology. Despite my poor digging skill, he always tolerates me no matter how rebellious I am. He not only tolerates me a lot but also constantly teaches and shares his archaeological experience with me. I feel really lucky and thankful for J.T. to be my supervisor.
Rachel is my teammate in RR4. She is well known for her drawing skills, and it can be said she is our square’s art master. She has a skill to illustrate the rocks in the square perfectly on a paper; however, according to Jane, the position of the rocks is out of scale and measurement. Nevertheless, one cannot and should not doubt her drawing skills. I especially love her expression of a unicorn in a hamburger. Rachel is also the Miss D.J. for RR4. Her music is full of encouragement, which makes our life in RR4 easier. Mr. Brett took her from RR4 to go on survey for the past few days. During those days, J.T. and I felt very depressed because without Rachel’s presence in RR4, RR4 is not complete.
After reading my short description about RR4, one might be thankful that he or she is not working in RR4 since this is a really hard square to work in; however, you are wrong. We actually have so many fun in RR4 each and every day. I do not regret at all to work in this square because I have two super awesome people working with me. They are my motivation and inspiration to work in RR4. Love you guys!
When you think of an archaeologist, what do you think of? A brawny man with a whip? A scrawny professor type? Basically people who are obsessed with the past and are very removed from reality? Not quite. Here at Tel Akko, we are leaping into the future with some cool tech that will not only benefit our search to understand the past, but will also lead to other applications in fields completely unrelated to archaeology. For the past few weeks I’ve been working on 3D photogrammetry. Every morning, before sunrise, a few of us go out to the tell to take pictures. Each day, we will be assigned a square which we then take pictures of from all angles.
We then take the pictures and put them into a program called AgiSoft. In this program, we take all of the photos and cover up all of the elements that we don’t want in the model, like shades, poles, or rope lines. The program then takes all of the photos and aligns the common features that it can then make a three dimensional model of.
Honestly, the computer does most of the hard work, but there is a little human effort that goes into making 50-some photos become a 3D representation of one of our squares. Most of my personal struggle comes from orienting the model. You would not believe how often I orient a model completely upside down and think it is right side up!
While the struggle can be somewhat frustrating, learning this program has been a lot of fun and given me a lot of opportunities that normally would not have happened. Seeing the sun rise up over the Mediterranean is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I may have to wake up a littler earlier and my day might be a little longer, but the mornings are peaceful and the results of all of our efforts are amazing. Like many things, it takes a village, and making these 3D models is no exception. It takes a lot of effort from our tiny team, and I really am trying.
By Mira Heckman…I have always had an interest in learning about the past, but couldn’t shy away from my interest in the sciences. When I first got to Umass I was dead set on going into a purely scientific field. Shortly after I realized that I wasn’t as passionate about the subject as i’d thought. I couldn’t see it as something that I would want to do for the rest of my life. I’m needed to think of a way to incorporate both science and my interest in the past. I knew that I wanted to do something within the field of archaeology. However, archeology in most cases doesn’t involve a purely scientific approach. When I realized that Umass had a geology program I became interested in learning more. Geology incorporates different aspects of earth sciences as well as geographic elements. At first, I wasn’t sure exactly how this could be combined with archeology, because I lacked the knowledge of exactly how the archeological field worked.
Coming to Tel Akko has made me realize the different ways in which Geoarchaeology can be applied to the practice of archaeology. Before coming here I was not completely aware of the different technical methods that are used in archaeology, as well as how these can be applied to geologic research questions on the tel. It was interesting to see the different ways in which archeology is performed in on the tel, both in survey and excavation. It was encouraging to see the software that can be used in mapping the tel, such as GIS and AgiSoft which can also be applied to geologic mapping and archaeology.
By studying ancient remnants and civilisations, we can gain a better understanding of the past. I am currently double majoring in Geology and Geoarchaeology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. By doing so, I can join my knowledge of the ancient world with scientific reasoning. My main interest is looking at climatic changes in landscapes over time and how this has affected past civilizations, as well as the adaptations that have been made. By combining the research techniques of Geology with the historic side of Archaeology, I want to gain an extensive understanding of archaeological research methods in order to enhance my knowledge of the more technical side of Archaeology. Applying a scientific approach to what I know about the past will allow me to expand my comprehension of ancient civilizations.
By June Weber…Welcome to MM2 better known as the Garea. A previously unexcavated square, we started to dig total archaeology style this 2016 season. We have recently dug ourselves out of “the Danger Zone” which was the disturbed territory and into the Early Hellenistic Period which is stratum A-3. Out of our exciting finds we have found a scarab beetle from Iron II period and our little shell floor which we like to call “Shelly Ann.”
In this non-Dothan square, which to some extent has not been dug with backhoes, we are hoping to reach a Persian strata by the end of this season. Under the guidance of our fearless leader we have been moving at a steady pace, despite the constant dirt sifting that has been undertaken, which of course is a necessary part of an archaeologists repertoire. I have recently betrayed the motherland by venturing into the surveyor’s territory, which I am sure someone else will blog about (no promises though.) However, the prodigal daughter has returned to her homeland, and thus has continued in the excavation of the best square, with the best Mediterranean breeze of course. We will continue our excavation and venture into the unknown underneath us, hoping to one day publish Dothan’s previous work along with the work done by Killebrew and Artzy.
Breakfast on the tell is scenic and it gives me energy
They say don’t sit down in the squares, the scorpion is your enemy
I’m sweeping dirt under the sun until I get the tan on me
Because the soil scientist dig to find out the history
but the archaeologist digging to solve a mystery-