3/30/2011 - Beit Guvrin / Tel Maresha - Dig for a Day

Upon leaving Herodion, we headed south toward Bethlehem to Beit Guvrin, the location of our Dig for a Day.  Along the route we saw red signs that were at the entrances of the Arab villages that warned Israelis not to enter.

We also saw the lush green grasses and wild flowers currently growing.  Once the heat of summer arrives, this lush green will be replaced by the more brown tones of the desert.

We drove past the large dish antennas of the Israeli television stations and shortly thereafter arrived at Beit Guvrin with its entry area covering in tall waiving barley and wheat.  The barley is distinguishable by its longer tips looking like graceful ballerinas.

Our guide at Beit Guvrin, Missy, was originally from Virginia, but has been at the archaeological site for several years.  She told of the Tel at the site known as Tel Maresha.  The area was covered with yellow daisies, little white chamomile flowers, hyssop (za'atar) and sage.  There were also flowering bulbs of common fennel.

Common Fennel

Sage

Common Fennel

 Missy took us into one of the 5000 caves at Tel Maresha and explained the relationship of the area to King Antiochus IV and the fight of the Maccabees - all using Patty Strouse's arm.

We were then given buckets - one for dirt, one for rocks and one, of course, for finds - and pickaxes to dig.  I found a large piece of a jar of some sort that had its handle intact.  Gary found several bones and pieces of the rim of a pot.  After everyone had found something in our cave - known as Lumpy - we lined up the buckets of dirt and formed a "schlep" brigade to move the buckets out of the cave to accomplish the next step.

My find!

At the opening of the cave there was a lovely fig tree.  Interestingly, the roots of that tree were clearly visible in the roof of the cave.

After exiting the cave, we screened the contents of the many dirt buckets for additional finds.

After we were done screening, we moved to another location in the park that had a fully excavated oil press.  Missy told us of the three steps of pressing olives - first you mush, then you shmush, and lastly you gush the olives.  Any remnants would be balled up and used for heating oil.

We came out of the oil press cave to see a herd of goats on the hill adjacent to the park.  The goats will eat the grasses and plants to cut down the chances of a summer wildfire.

Entrance to unexcavated cave.

 Finally, we went into another cave to see what they're like before excavation has begun.  The cave was very dark but lit by many candles.  We had to move carefully through various shaped areas on hands and knees; on our butts, or on our backs.  In one place we dropped through a hole from one level to the one below.  In this cave were many dovecotes as this was a colombarium for pigeons that would have been eaten or used for sacrifices.  This was a great experience that we won't soon forget.

Missy then showed us some of the objects that have been found at the site.  One of which is on loan to the Israel Museum.

We left Tel Maresha and headed for Jerusalem passing the remnants of a Crusader Church and also the memorial to the young people who were killed attempting to get supplies to Jerusalem before the 1948 war of independence in the "Sandwich Trucks."