The A Team relaxes during a survey of Jebel Qat

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First Letter from Nazareth 2023

Sunday June 18, 2023 Dear Family and Friends, I’m late with this first letter, so I’ll do my best to catch you up on our progress. I landed on May 30 with a small early crew. Most headed to Nazareth to start preparing our storeroom in the hotel and the site for the dig, while Tom and Mary Lynn McCollough and I drove to Jerusalem for a couple of meetings with folks at Hebrew U. The next day we joined everyone at the site to supervise the delivery of our tool container and toilets, and to get shade over our squares. Tom McCollough, Motti Aviam, and I walked the site, discussing where to re-open old squares and where to sink new ones. The weather has been kind to us. That has been the general pattern this year, with the exception of one day that hit 40 C/104 F, and yesterday, which got close to 38/100 during our tour of Megiddo, Beit She‘arim, and Caesarea. Most days have been somewhere in the 80s Fahrenheit, and today the high is predicted at 81. Two Fridays ago, we left the fiel...
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First Week, continued

Third Post, Installment 2 Students also saw the 4 th and 5 th century synagogue floor at Hamat Tiberias, which was built of black basalt at the site of hot springs on the west coast of the Sea of Galilee. The wheel of the zodiac in the mosaic floor is a bit startling if you’ve never seen one in a synagogue before. I imagine it would be like encountering a large pentagram in the floor of the Washington Cathedral. It would have been the second zodiac we saw that day, but we missed the turnoff to Beit Alpha, where the 6 th century synagogue sports a similar floor that was discovered in the 1920’s after the discovery of the one at Hamat Tiberias. Since those discoveries many more have been found, including one at Sepphoris. Next came swimming in the Sea of Galilee, which the students did with some enthusiasm. I was not surprised that all went in because earlier they all had piled out of the vans to photograph one another on the banks of the Jordan when we crossed on our way north fr...
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More Photos

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Another Roman oil lamp from a later period Early Roman ("Herodian") oil lamp Early Roman owl with convoluted lip The Roman theater at Sepphoris (our Field II) Sketch of the basilica at Sepphoris (our Field V) Mosaics of the basilica at Sepphoris Jack finds himself in Israel Square V.91 Mediterranean Sea at the Caesarea aqueduct The beach at Dor In the Dead Sea (Jack floats!); the hills of Jordan are just visible in the background In front of the Dead Sea "...and it's a big thumbs up from Jack Wilgus as he rises from the dead!" Ruthie is very happy to have been buried at Beit Shearim. In front of the tomb of Judah "the Prince" at Beit Shearim (he died at Sepphoris) Sea of Galilee Locked out: Dr. Strange fashions a pick to pick the lock. Maybe Jack will tell him how he got in. Roman theater at Beit Shean; the bronze age tell rises in the background Jack and Anna posing with the Jesus Christ Superstar tree Jack on top of Tell Beit Shean Anna on Tell Beit...
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