Apologies

Hi all, 

Sorry for the hiatus in my blog posts, the end of the season became exceptionally busy, as per usual, and the internet connection particularly patchy. The season is now over, however, I will endeavour over the next week to update the blog on the events on site day by day.

For now enjoy the videos that I have posted to the blog and the photos of this seasons excavation!

Excavation 4

Excavation 3

Reservoir 2

Reservoir

Excavation 2

Jericho Reservoir

I will post some more photos of this season soon, hopefully in the next couple of days! Its been a bust week or so and and I think its going to just get busier! I will get back to the blog soon!

Day 6

The day started well, with the continuation of our planning and the continuation of excavation within Trench 3. It was a bit cloudy day in Jericho with some strong winds and, at some point a sand storm blowing across the site. We got our planning frame from the window maker in Jericho the day before. It was made with aluminium and was light weight with wire strings across it. It works really well and suits the dry conditions working in the middle east. I tested it out by planning Trench 2, partially to catch up on some of our recording and hopefully get excavating down to the really good archaeology and determine what this structure was! The walls of the structure to the south are quite complicated in Trench 3 and now that we are up to date with the planning, hopefully we can excavate further and work out the phasing.

Meanwhile drawing of the stonework in Trench 1 and excavation continued in Trench 3, taking away the modern back fill and revealing more of the back wall of the structure. Meanwhile Lesley's survey team got to work digitally recording the major features within each of trenches. She has done a great job in training the students up on the total station and they are now working like a well oiled machine. They surveyed most of trenches in consultation with myself, which will really help in locating the hand drawn plans to the wider maps of the area. Tomorrow more recording and now with Trench 2 completed for the first phase, more excavation.

We finished the day with some friendly competition by playing foot ball at the hotel. My word I am unfit, but it was a good laugh and some good exercise, even if my back didn't think so. Hopefully we will get a proper friendly going on soon!

Day 5

We continued excavating today but also starting recording the first phases of our trenches. I got the students started on some hand drawn plans of the stonework in the first trenches we excavated while I caught up on some paperwork. We were in the process of getting a planning frame constructed for the dig by a window maker in Jericho and so had  to draw using a base line technique. The students quickly got the  hang of it and although were a little slow to start, quickly planned some of the collapsed vault we found in Trench 1.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud had done some further research on our day off about mills in the surrounding area and thought perhaps that the mill wheel would be on the outside of the building. While the four trenches we had already started had looked at the structure itself and the area to the south, we still needed to look to the north, beyond the part of the structure that is still sanding. We got Lesley and her survey team to extend our site grid and lay out two grids in this area that we will excavate at a later date.

Work continued excavating in trenches 3 and 4, exposing the back line of the wall of structure, albeit disturbed by modern activity. Work progresses at a steady rate and the students area getting used to this type of excavation. We now have a large amount of recording to catch up on, but hopefully we will get onto the second phase of excavation soon.

Day 4

So after a day off of a lot of walking, day 4 started with a lot of slow walkers to site. But after getting going we got stuck into some more excavation. Mahmoud, the site director was away today, attending meetings at his University, so I ran the show. We continued with excavating Trench 2. Trench 1 had gotten as far as we could without recording and, without the drawing equipment that was unfortunately locked in Mahmoud's room, we moved onto a new trench, number 3, just to the south. Further elements of the vaulted rook was uncovered and what we think may e the back wall. Trench 2 continued until we couldn't get any further as well, with some stone flooring and possibly some plaster found on the outside of the reservoir wall, Plaster on the insider face suggests that the thick walls of the reservoir may have been constructed in multiple phases but more excavation is required. Trench 4 was started to the south to follow the walls along this side and see if we could outline the walls of the structure we are investigating. The students laid out the grid squares themselves with some help by me and did a great job cleaning over the stone work.

Meanwhile, Lesley continued to teach the students survey skills. The survey team today continued surveying the features uncovered in the trenches, as well as he new grid squares. Today the surveyors also started located the reservoir walls in much greater detail as previously which should link all of all excavation information into the larger picture and in great detail. Tomorrow, hopefully, we will do some drawing.

Day 3

We started excavating today! We had two groups working in two trenches, Trench 1 and 2.

Trench 1 was located within  the building and was slightly smaller in size so that we are not excavating over the part of the vaulted ceiling still standing. Salah, Alaa and Nourah were working in this trench and did a great job of taking off the overburden, revealing a part of what we think is the collapsed vaulted ceiling from the other side and what we think may be a floor surface. Jad, Talfan, Mauro and Hussein started work in Trench 2, revealing the outer wall of the structure and how it connected to the thick walls of the reservoir. More debris was encountered in this area as well, presumably from the collapse of the structure itself. Additionally Lesley continued to teach the students in turn how to use the survey equipment and recorded the grid set out the day before, as well as the extent of the trenches and what we had found within them. We spent the majority of the day taking off overburden and therefore most of the finds were modern, however, we did have some unstratified pottery from many different periods and an Israeli Lira from 1979! Not a bad way to start and the trenches looked great at the end of the day!

With a day off looming the next day, some of the group went home, while the rest of us hit downtown Jericho for a few beers and some Nigella. The next day we hiked down Wadi Qelt, which was fantastic, but took about 7 hours and by the end our legs were killing us. Maybe wasn't the best idea for a day off but we did see some cool archaeology, including Herod's Palace, and some great scenery. Just some of the great stuff we can do while we are here!

Day 2

Second day of the season and we start on the excavation of the possible Mill site. Most of today was spent doing the preliminary work on site and setting up so that we could start proper the following day. Lesley took some students to teach them the setting up of the total station and then preceded to spend the rest of the day setting out a five metre grid over the area that we wanted to excavate, immediately south-east of the Reservoir. The remainder of the teach started by clearing the rubbish across the area. Unfortunately dumps of rubbish are common in Palestine and therefore a lot of the preliminary work involves removing rubbish in order to provide a clean and safe area for the students to work. We also had to clear a large area of spoil in this area. It appears that a a large hole had been excavated in this area, possibly as part of the hosing estate that has been and continues to be constructed surrounding the site. While this is unfortunate for destroying archaeological information, we will take advantage of the area and it allows us to view stratigraphy at a much lower level without a large amount of excavation. Finally, with the help of some local builders, who not only provided the equipment but also the help for free, we shored up a part of vaulted ceiling which forms one side of the structure we are investigating. Health and safety is a very important part of the work we do and while we want to excavate within the building, we need to make sure this is safe to do so for our students and ourselves. It was a hard days work but we were all set up to start excavating properly the next day.

In the evening I gave a lecture to the group on excavation and recording techniques and then we discussed afterwards mixing the system we use in England with that of the system that the Palestine department of antiquities. The systems are not that different and it will be an interesting mix of two methods in order to teach the students single context recording as well as methods from from the Middle East. We decided to use a traditional grid system for each trench, with a one metre baulk inbetween, but also being flexible to extend or join trenches together. For each of these trenches will employ the single context method including planning, photography and lined into surveying using the total station. I couldn't wait to get started.

Day 1

Hi All. I have finally had a second to sit down and write this blog entry. Its been a hectic few days as always seems to be the way when we start the project. After spending a relaxing morning in Jerusalem doing some site seeing, including walking the Jerusalem walls, Lesley and I made our way to Jericho and the hotel which we will stay for the next few weeks. Its a lovely place which has great food and is very comfortable and took full advantage to relax when we got there.

Mahmoud, the dig director and the students from Birzeit University arrived a little later and we met with old friends and new ones. Later in the evening two students from UCL, who had completed their masters only recently, also joined us, after spending a full day travelling. A couple of beers and a catch up later and it was time to get an early night. At the moment the team is quite small., m, mainly because Birzeit University is in the middle of exam season and some of the students are busily finishing off. So far we have myself, Lesley and the two MA students, Mauro and Talfan from UCL and Mahmoud, Noura, Hussein and Jad from Birzeit University with Alaa, a student from last season joining us the day afterwards. This year we also have Mohammed, a GIS specialist from the Palestinian Department of Antiquities on the project, who should hopefully help us combine al the data from the last few years.

Day 1

The first day as always was a matter of reacquainting ourselves with the landscape and introducing the new members of the project to what we have done over the last few years. We started exploring the springs for the aqueduct of the palace and hiked some of the sections of the aqueduct that we uncovered last year, as well as a possible large settlement that we identified last season through surface collection of pottery. the pottery recovered tends to suggest that this tell may be contemporary with the aqueduct and therefore the palace. We continued our tour over to the area of the reservoir that was surveyed in the first season and where we are planning to excavate this year. To the east of the reservoir lies a small building with the remainder of a vaulted ceiling which may form part of one of three mills that are shown on the historic mapping of the area. We had another good look over the site and figured out where was the best place to put some trenches. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at the aqueduct by the palace and re-examining possible locations where the aqueduct entered the palace complex.

The evening was spent enjoying dinner together as we do every day and have some introductory lectures in the evening by Mahmoud who summarised the work done over the last four years and Lesley who showed everybody the extent of the survey work done in the last two seasons.

Tomorrow we will head over to the Reservoir site and prepare for the start of our excavations. More tomorrow!

So, our travels have almost begun. Lesley and I have spent the day sorting, washing, organising, packing and repacking and are know doing our last minute checks. The bags are packed and we have an early start ahead of us tomorrow to head to the airport and fly into Tel Aviv. To say we are excited would be an under statement. The internet says its 25 degrees and we are looking forward to getting away from drizzly England and over to sunny Jericho.

We will spend tomorrow night at the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem, which is a great place for any prospective archaeology travellers. Its cheap, clean and a 10 minute walk from the Old City, I would highly recommend it. We met some very nice people there last year and found a great bar just a couple of drunken steps away. In fact its where we spent New Years last year.

Hopefully we will be up early enough on Wednesday to see the Dome of the Rock. This is one of the only major sites we didn't get to see last year because it is only open to non-Muslims early in the morning and only accessible via one particular gate so it was a pain to find. With the knowledge this year, hopefully we will be more lucky. We also would like to get some falafel for lunch and hopefully do the walk around the Jerusalem city walls which I have been told is a must.

After a bit of social time over, we will head to Jericho in the afternoon and meet up with Mahmoud, the site director, and the new bunch of students. We've been in touch with some of the contingent from last year, who will be there again this year and it will be great to catch up with them. We also have two new UCL students this year who have just completed their masters and sound very excited to go. A lot to look forward to and we won't have even started the project yet!!!

Will post again soon!

If your interested in finding out more about the previous seasons of work on the Khirbet el-Mafjar Landscape project check out the CBRL bulletin for 2010. Link below

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/brl/2010/00000005/00000001

https://plus.google.com/photos/112724883890852025301/albums/5692746217287184081

Here is a few photos from the excellent season we had last year!

Welcome

Hello one and all,

This blog will follow the third season of the Khirbet el-Mafjar Landscape Project. This is a collaborative project between Birzeit University, Palestine and University College London, co-directed by Dr Mahmoud Hawari and Dr Dominic Perring. I am a professional archaeologist and research student who, along with my fiancé and colleague, Lesley, provide the practical experience to teach students both from UCL and Birzeit in excavation and surveying skills.

The project examines the landscape surrounding Khibet el-Mafjar, otherwise known as Hisham's Palace a desert castle built in the Umaayad period. Major excavations were undertaken as the palace more than 50 years ago.

The preliminary study of the area, combined field walking technique with some walkover survey of the area near to the palace. The first season proper combined topographic and geophysical survey conducted by Lelsey (UCL) and Mick and Peter from Coracle. Additionally the boundary wall surrounding a park to the south-east of the castle was mapped accurately for the first time. The second season focused on two lines of aqueduct running from springs to the west and the south within the town of Jericho itself. This involved uncovering sections of the aqueduct which remains very well intact in places and tracing its line accurately or the first time

This is my second year in Jericho and I can't wait to go back in a couple of days time. It is a fantastic place and hopefully we will be doing some more excavation this year associated the water management system. Some of the students from last year are returning and some new students will be coming from both UCL and Birzeit.

Watch this space for updates about our travels and the work we will be undertaking.