The 2009 season at Tel Kabri is now over and we wish to extend our thanks and gratitude to all participants for a fabulous season!  For photos from July 27 to 30, including the final party and team photos from the second session, please click on the following links:

July 27:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265425&id=5311885&l=09b4b94287

July 28:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265949&id=5311885&l=85bb81a141

July 29:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=39015153&l=81b57a0f26&id=5311885

July 30:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2266070&id=5311885&l=3d2c03b205

It’s been two weeks since I left Israel. I’ve finally stopped waking up before sunrise. All the dirt is gone from beneath my nails. No more pick axing at dawn. No more wheel barrowing or seemingly endless bucket lines in the scalding late morning sun. No need to have ibuprofen with breakfast to take away the aches of the previous day…

And I miss it all more than I could have imagined. As I’ve looked at the pictures coming out of the second session, I wish I was back on the tel, picking up pottery and buckets for hours on end. Kabri was a place where I was able to reconnect with old friends and make brand new ones. I never thought I’d end up in the Holy Land, getting slightly lost in Jerusalem in a rental car, helping find a plaster floor in a few thousand year old structure, or eat hummus on the side of the Mediterranean with a great group of people.

When I first arrived in Israel I never thought I’d want to go back, but now the idea of spending part of next year at Megiddo sounds extremely enticing. We’ll see where the next year takes me…

For photos from July 19 to 23, click on the following links:

July 19:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263915&id=5311885&l=03a4d8800a

July 20:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263919&id=5311885&l=e8c2759e07

July 21:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2264642&id=5311885&l=d8974829e2

July 22:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2264645&id=5311885&l=05a50867a7

July 23:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2264646&id=5311885&l=a26dc19a89

New photos by Mark Abbott:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2264647&id=5311885&l=50771533da

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2264748&id=5311885&l=31bedc32b4

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=38951920&l=f39bbee645&id=5311885

For more pictures, by a professional this time, check out the following links to Mark Abbott’s photos of Week 4 at Tel Kabri 2009:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263423&id=5311885&l=c8951f7c35

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263420&id=5311885&l=a88e90020d

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263427&id=5311885&l=90d0a40fe7

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263434&id=5311885&l=d50219c1ef

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=38889698&l=fe4194618a&id=5311885

For those wondering where all the photographs are, the dig photos are all posted on Facebook in albums which are available for all to see; just click on the links below:

June 19 and 20:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258546&id=5311885&l=736eaf8fe1

June 21:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258545&id=5311885&l=fbe3458661

June 22: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258543&id=5311885&l=ca8526c14b

June 23: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258537&id=5311885&l=6e583149ae

June 24:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258456&id=5311885&l=3355d09b83

June 25: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258451&id=5311885&l=9f3a67d64d

June 28:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259184&id=5311885&l=3917f4b65b

June 29:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259185&id=5311885&l=88dafe141e

June 30:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259395&id=5311885&l=f4c47f5763

July 1:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259750&id=5311885&l=f573f896e4

July 2:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259760&id=5311885&l=4093fa0cd3

July 3:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260101&id=5311885&l=111ce9f366

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260104&id=5311885&l=b67e06219d

July 4:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260094&id=5311885&l=4c6ad4c783

July 5:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260221&id=5311885&l=0149131937

July 6:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2260647&id=5311885&l=aaa7f1d4fa

July 7:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261043&id=5311885&l=4f63678746

July 8:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261616&id=5311885&l=8e3f320c18

July 9:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261603&id=5311885&l=2cc2a0cfc9

July 10:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262161&id=5311885&l=1bf29ace6c

July 12:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262165&id=5311885&l=c9bf168676

July 13:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262524&id=5311885&l=2cb1bdac0f

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262516&id=5311885&l=4094913826

July 14:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262765&id=5311885&l=10bf079f9e

July 15:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263202&id=5311885&l=64c795659c

July 16:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2263205&id=5311885&l=d949ce7734

So there I was, crammed tightly in a 747 as I landed in Tel Aviv. As I entered the airport I couldn’t help staring at a large BMW advertisement written in Hebrew; at this moment I realized,
“Wow, I’m really here. Crap.” I replayed the email conversations
I had had with Helena Tomas, a professor at University of Zagreb,
Croatia, and one of the senior staff at Kabri. Because she, her two
students, and I were all arriving after the bus had already left the
airport, we planned to rendezvous at a café and head up to the kibbutz together. After traveling for over eighteen hours straight, one can find oneself rather delirious (as I’m sure many of you can imagine), and as soon as I couldn’t locate Professor Tomas I began to panic. Not speaking a word of Hebrew and being generally confused, I searched back and forth through the arrivals, to no avail. I had contemplated buying a train ticket and simply leaving by myself until I gave one last glance for Professor Tomas…and sure enough, there they were,
hanging out in front of a café. I met them with much relief and we continued our journey via train and then an awkward taxi ride to the kibbutz.

Now, after two days of digging, I, along with all the other students, have become acclimated to our new schedule of digging, eating, taking notes, and sleeping. I know more about archaeology than I’ve ever known (since Kabri is my first dig), and I am overall thrilled to have such an interesting and stimulating experience with fellow anthropology students. I look forward to the progress we will make as well as learning the ropes of being in the field. Go Kabri!

You know you’re a Kabri archaeologist when…

1. a reference to a Marshalltown no longer means a town in Pennsylvania you’ve never heard of.

2. the water in the shower turns brown from dirt

3. staring at a wall is exciting beyond words

4. you are prepared to be taken

5. you look like a peeing dog while trying to get the dirt out of your shoe

6. you can use the sun to tell the time

7. you can’t tell the difference between a tan line or a “dirt line”

8. you can’t tell if someone has poured a bottle of water on your head or if you are simply sweating

9. you projectile sweat

10. you stick things in your mouth just to see what they are

After an 11 hour flight, getting pulled out of line at customs, and a “interesting” (to say the least) taxi ride to HaYarkon Street in downtown Tel Aviv near the beach, I had officially made it to Israel safe and sound.  The bus to the kibbutz would leave the next day from the Airport, so in the meantime I had the rest of the day to explore.  Only did it truly hit me that I was walking along the Mediterranean Sea when, dipping my feet in the water, it felt nearly as warm as the air.  The weather was beautiful and after weeks of rain on the East Coast back home in the US the sun was much needed.  My friend and I found a little cafe along the same boulevard as our hostel and chowed down on our first meal in nearly a day unrelated to an airplane and/or airport.  The heat had still not let up when we made it back to the hostel around 1 a.m. from exploring the nightlife in Tel Aviv, though we were both so tired the temperature likely didn’t matter.  The next morning we checked out and made our way back to the airport, where we met with the rest of the second session diggers and boarded a bus towards Kabri.  Though anxious to get to the kibbutz and see what it was like, the two hour bus ride gave us all a good chance to see the landscape in Northern Israel.  After planes, trains, buses, and hostels… we had made it to the kibbutz.  The buildings are nestled into a thicket of trees and all center around a patio where everyone meets to converse and relax.  At our first meal together, those returning for the second sessions shared their stories, experiences, and tips from the first session.  Sweating, tired, and anxious to see the sight, though well-fed and in good company: so it begins, tomorrow morning at 4:50, when the bus leaves for the tel…

Just yesterday, a select few experienced the first hints of Israeli precipitation. Yes, a whopping bravura of a storm that lasted approximately 7 minutes and wet the outdoor surfaces of the kibbutz so thoroughly that we almost needed to wipe our chairs down before sitting again.

On the Tel, it is always evident where there is a tiny sliver in the rubber water pipes because within 2 short days, a charming miniature green sprout will have formed. It seems the ground is full of opportunist little seedlings needing just a few sips to plant root in the soil. Seven minutes of rain really is seven minutes in heaven.

Lectures and discussions held post-digging expatiate theories on Kabri’s ruling forces. How and why did the power of Kabri rise/fall? What is the extent of this kingdom? How is power distributed? Etc. Etc.

The rise of Kabri seems to come as quickly as these petite plants pop up in our site. The ecologic and economic climate during its 250-year life cycle was just the right combination for a burgeoning city-state. The land provided adjacent water springs and terrain for cultivation. Nearby trade routes flowed steadily allowing dots to connect and Kabri to sprout. Now to understand just who these adept Germinators were…