31
Jul, 2017

By Megan Ashbrook

An Unexpected Combination

By Megan Ashbrook.

Two of my loves are archaeology and horses. Never would I have imagined that thousands of miles away from America I would be using my horseback riding skills here at Tel Akko.

At Miami University, I work at our Equestrian Center and I am the Western team captain of our equestrian team. My job is a lot of manual labor but requires skill and confidence to do a good job. Every day on the tel, I am grateful that I have lifted hay bales and built up my leg muscles already. Digging requires a lot of lifting dirt buckets and squatting all day. I’m also grateful that I’m used to working in the sun because in Israel I spend about 6 and half hours working outside.

The similarities between my work with horses and work on the tel doesn’t end at manual labor. When working around horses, I have to have confidence even when I am unsure or nervous about what is going on. A horse will feel my every emotion and “mirror” the emotion back. Because of horses’ natural reaction I have learned to have confidence even though I might not be comfortable with the situation. For an example, there is one horse at Miami who will sometimes shy away at things if she doesn’t want to work anymore. Though her sudden movements may be startling, I have to maintain a calm composure in order to not amplify the situation.  If I got nervous about her movements she would think there was really something to be afraid of.

On the tel, I also use this skill of assessing a situation and confidently working in it. I was a bit nervous about my first few days of excavation. But with my horseback riding skills I was able to be successful. I didn’t always know exactly what I was supposed to do but I fully embraced the concept of too many questions isn’t a bad thing.

Finally, my horseback riding coach at Miami University sent our team this quote before a show: “Success is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection.” I worked all of last year to live by that quote in my riding. I constantly remind myself of it before shows, during practice, and after a bad pattern test. That quote has become very important to me and now reflecting back I should remind myself of it on the dig too. I can’t identify every item correctly nor can I perfectly excavate my area. My success on this dig should include the imperfections of life.

Now past the half way point of my first excavation, I’m excited to get back to the horses at Miami. But I don’t want to leave Israel quite yet. I am very grateful that I have been able to combine some of my horseback riding skills with archaeology. Back on campus, I’m sure I’ll find unexpected uses for my archaeology skills too.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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26
Jul, 2017

By Caroline Sausser

From the Farm to the Tel

Digging in the dirt is not an unfamiliar task for me. Having visited my grandparents’ farm throughout my life, I have often plowed gardens, put up fences, and weeded flower beds. And every now and then while digging, I’d find a broken piece of pottery in the fields.

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23
Jul, 2017
bullet found on tel akko

By Jennifer Munro

Friday 21st July – Bullet on the Tel

On Friday a bullet casing was found on Tel Akko. This is not the first bullet to be found, and our expert, Dr Nick Pumphrey of Baker University says that he thinks it’s a British bullet; possibly a 303 from a Lee Enfield rifle. When the bullet has been cleaned this will become clearer. Jewish forces were trained by the British, and some had weapons that they had acquired in various ways, from the Mandate soldiers.

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16
Jul, 2017
mysterious ostrich claw found at Tel Akko

By Jennifer Munro

The Mysterious Claw of Akko

Strange claw found at Tel Akko by Justin Lev Tov our Archeozoology expert

This season at Tell Akko, I, with the aid of colleague Liora Horwitz (National Natural History Collections, Hebrew University) resolved a mystery from the 2015 season. Near the end of last season, a gigantic claw (see pic) — the Akko Claw — was excavated from Nick Pumphrey’s area, QQ3. I was mystified, and took it to the Hebrew University, comparing it to birds of prey, crocodiles, sea turtles and other creatures. I also compared with an ostrich. None of these things fitted ‘my’ bone quite right, not even the ostrich. I mulled this over all year long during the off season, sending the picture to various stumped archaeological and paleontological colleagues. I was even starting to ponder the reality of Near Eastern mythological creatures out of desperation — how about a griffon? Maybe a roc (I have images of a B movie version of Sinbad and the Seven Seas ingrained in my head – I saw it as a kid, and I recall that some of his sailors were taken away by such a giant bird).

This season, Liora Horwitz visited the tel, and brought with her (knowing of the problem) a set of modern ostrich claw bones. We looked, but weren’t quite satisfied. Liora borrowed the archaeological claw to study it further in Jerusalem. There, she noticed, under a microscope, that it had been somewhat polished and cut a bit here and there. The ostrich was very close morphologically and so it must be an ostrich – there is no other bird in the greater Eurasian-African region of that size. A subspecies of ostrich used to inhabit Israel and neighboring countries, and many years ago I identified Roman-era ostrich bones from the site of Caesarea (a site to Akko’s south).

The skeleton which Liora and I were able to compare the Akko Claw with was the sub-Saharan variety, but perhaps some of the difficulty we had in identifying the bone as ostrich were due to subspecies differences. Next step will be to drop by either Harvard’s natural history museum or that of the UK, a couple of the only institutions that house skeletons of the ostrich which formerly inhabited this region, Struthio camelus syriaca. Unfortunately I’ve no plans to be in either place anytime soon: anyone heading in those directions and have room in their suitcase for an ostrich claw?

In the past, evidently, intrepid hunters or the wealthy who could employ them could eat ostrich. Today in Israel one can order ostrich steaks in upper echelon restaurants. Ostrich. It’s the other red meat.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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14
Jul, 2017
Tel Akko 2017 Season starts here

By Jennifer Munro

Friday 14th of July

Staff and students are beginning to gather for the 2017 Season at Tel Akko in Israel. We’re all looking forward to a wonderful month of study, exploration, adventure and, of course, archaeology! The IDF Naval College at Akko is our host again this year, and we are sharing it with some Sea Scouts, who add a lot of noise and colour to the dining hall! Follow this blog to see what finds we have  and what mysteries we uncover. The first dig will take place on Monday 17th of July, when our daily diary blog will follow them up Tel Akko for videos and photographs. Welcome to friends old and new!

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#TrueBlue
25
Jul, 2016

By Justin Batista

True Blue

 

Hey! I’m Justin. Along with Dr. Killebrew, I supervise the “Blue” area. I have an awesome team of friends – square supervisors, assistants, and volunteers – that help make the 19 Row run as smoothly as it does on a daily basis. In this video, you’ll hear me attempt to justify why I sit at my fancy desk all day.

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21
Jul, 2016

By Darcy Calabria

I’ve Been Really Trying…. To Make a 3D Model

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.

 

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21
Jul, 2016

By Mira Heckman

Worlds Collide

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.

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21
Jul, 2016

By June Weber

The Garea Part 1…Maybe

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.

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21
Jul, 2016

By Lalita Limpichart

Akko rap

 

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-

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1 2 3 4
An Unexpected Combination
From the Farm to the Tel
bullet found on tel akko
Friday 21st July – Bullet on the Tel
mysterious ostrich claw found at Tel Akko
The Mysterious Claw of Akko
Tel Akko 2017 Season starts here
Friday 14th of July
#TrueBlue
True Blue
I’ve Been Really Trying…. To Make a 3D Model
Worlds Collide
The Garea Part 1…Maybe
Akko rap