To Damascus years are only moments, decades are only flitting trifles of time.  She measures time not by days and months and years, but by the empires she has seen rise and prosper and crumble to ruin.  She is a type of immortality.  Twain 1966:338

We've found some good places to take students to show them the lengthy history of Syria. And we had a ( Read more... )

On the heels of our crusader visit, we head to another time period represented nearby, to the Byzantine Dead Cities and the one of four Seleucid capital cities, Apamea. While traveling to these sites, we saw other time periods clearly represented, though not showcases for tourism. These were gigantic Middle Bronze tells. You can usually spot the MB ( Read more... )

Through the gap.

We made the journey into the Homs gap, but took many winding mountain roads at first instead of taking the main highway. We did this in order to visit sites along the way. We first went to a castle at Misyaf. I don’t remember the exact history of it, but I think it was an anti-crusader fort. Such forts paralleled each other and many ( Read more... )

We hole up for a few days in Damascus and discuss the season, the publication of preliminary reports, the final grades for the students, and ways to improve the excavation and field school next year. It’s a productive time and I can feel some of the tension of the season beginning to flow away. I enjoy the work very much, but I do feel the ( Read more... )

Wrapping up the season.

Fuad has gone to Damascus, his arm in a makeshift sling (made of a kafiyeh, the head scarves they wear in these parts). The fall he took in the baseball game did a number on his arm. He thinks it might be broken, but I think it’s just badly sprained. Still, he should have it checked out. Of course, he could do that closer ( Read more... )

The Crusaders win the Pennant! The Crusaders win the Pennant!

We’ve had the final game of the whiffle ball season and Katy’s team, The Crusaders, have come out victorious. Her team captain, Adam, won the homerun hitoff as well. She said the secret was to keep handing him whiskey. In an attempt to stop one of Adam’s hits, Fuad leapt to catch the ball ( Read more... )

...a workshop, probably for a jewelry maker.

Notice the mud brick sitting in the corner near the threshold block into the room (and remember that’s not a true corner--one side is a wall with a door in it leading into the room over the threshold block, but the other is a baulk into Op 111 that we will have to take down next season). The brick is ( Read more... )

Floors and more Floors

The floor in 110B has already revealed a spindle whorl and bronze pin. I slowed everything down there, as such assemblages are vitally important to our understanding of the destruction and abandonment of the buildings. These are items that were left intact on floors that were sealed off by collapsing roofs and walls. If not in ( Read more... )

The fourth of July has crept up on us and we decide to celebrate with a bonfire. Well, we really just stoke up the toilet paper fire, but that sounds a little less than grand. Even with our new-fangled sit-down toilet, the pipes and septic tank can’t take the toilet paper so we still have to throw it in a bin and then burn it. So we have a barrel ( Read more... )

Tadmor is the town next to the famous ancient city of Palmyra. The name of the town afforded me with an opportunity for one of my many bad puns. People would ask how far we were from Palmyra, and I’d say, ‘Just a Tad More.’

Palmyra was an oasis town, a stopping point on many a trade caravan through the desert and thus terribly important in the ( Read more... )