Ancient Connections, Artisans, and CNN

If I haven’t been clear about my progress on the dig, it’s because the square I’m working in began this season as cobbles, which we took out to find some dirt, followed by cobbles, followed by dirt. I’m really hoping I don’t find another layer of cobbles.

But the other day, I pulled something new and different out of the ground. The usual finds are broken ceramics and bits of bone, but this one was a little bone pendant. Carved at the top with a small drilled hole. If the Law of Superposition combined with the might of ceramic typologies have not failed us, this find dates to the Iron Age.

It was deemed an “object,” which makes it a special kind of artifact, something unique and / or of exceptional preservation. This means it will never leave Jordan and may someday show up in a museum. I’ll see it there and know that I was the first person to see it in almost three thousand years. That’s why I love archaeology – it’s that strange connection to the past. Between me, and the ancient person who lost or left behind this pendant.

On Saturday, we took a trip on the King’s Highway. We started out with Mount Nebo. The view from there is amazing, since you can see the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley and pretty much everything in between. It’s considered biblically to be the place where Moses looked out to the “promised land” and then died, knowing he’d never actually get there.

From there, we moved on to the town of Madaba, which is home to the Church of the Map. Once you step inside, there’s a huge mosaic map that covers the floor and shows everything from the Mediterranean and Egypt, to the various sites around the Jordan Valley.

Next, we stopped at Machaerus / Mukawir, the site where it’s believe John the Baptist was beheaded. It’s perched high up on the cliff and offers another great view of the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. There’s a huge cistern there, too, though it is bone dry now.

Continuing on our whirlwind tour of many stops, we stopped briefly at a site called Dhibon. There’s not much to say about it. There was a wall and some garbage and it’s just a sad little site. It was nice to move on from there to Lehun, a Bronze Age site overlooking the turquoise Wadi Mujib. It was beautifully windy there, a nice cool wind that took the edge off the heat.

The final stop of the day was Umm er-Rasas (Mother of Lead), which featured an expansive archaeological park. There were so many places to explore and hide. It was pretty much a giant jungle-gym for archaeologists. We were discussing playing hide-and-seek, but we ran out of time.

On Sunday, we took sometime to visit various local artisans. We stopped first at a place called Azizia Potters. The men working there move so quickly and before you know it, they’ve turned a lump of nondescript clay into a perfect vessel. Each worker will produce between 200 and 300 pieces every day.

We returned to Machaerus to visit Bani Hamida, a foundation started by Queen Noor for the Bedouin women who were still using traditional weaving practices. I loved watching them work. I’ve tried using a drop spindle before, but it’s so hard. They make it look absolutely effortless, twisting raw wool into yarn with a flick of their wrist.

Before I close off this post, I’d like to take a minute to talk about the Israel / Lebanon conflict. I’ve been getting emails from a lot of you who are worried that I’m so close to the fighting, even though I’m really far away, geographically.

The Middle East is stereotyped by the biases of American media, unfortunately. While there are considerable problems in many of the countries, things don’t quite to be as bad as stations like CNN make them out to be.

Unfortunately, this area usually gets lumped into one big mass by people, so problems in one of country is thought to be a problem faced by all Middle Eastern countries. This isn’t the case, and we always have to remember that all the countries here are different with separate goals.

Jordan has to be one of the safest places to travel. Jordan wants the outside world to come in and experience what it has to offer without the fear of being killed in the process.

We’re keeping in touch with the Canadian Embassy, who has assured everyone that we’re as safe here as we would be in our own homes in Canada. So, needless to say, I feel safe in Jordan, not that I would get complacent or anything, but I’m not worried about the problems between Israel and Lebanon physically reaching us.