May 31 Gezer Update

Latest Photos

By Gary D. Myers

Even though several team members were out today due to illness, volunteers removed 100 bags of material (each bag contains approximately 400 lbs of debris). The team dug about 3 feet deeper in to the cave. Imagine clearing a cube of mud and dirt 8 feet tall and 3 feet deep and you’ll get the picture of how much debris was removed.

Each day it becomes harder to reach the 100 bag count because the winch has to go down further each day. It now takes 4 minutes to send the winch hook to the bottom and lift one bag.

With an average of 3 feet of debris removed per day, Dr. Dan Warner and Dr. Jim Parker are hopeful that the team will reach the cave by the end of the week.

A Million Little Pieces of History

With every shovel of dig many broken pottery shards are uncovered. The most common pieces are broken terra cotta handles. Chances are that if you have a broken handle on your terra cotta vase or jar, we have uncoverd a piece that would fit. Like the broken handles, most of the pieces are of no value – the pieces are small and out of context. However, the dig has collected a few Iron and Bronze Age shards.

The team has also uncovered a large grinding stone and many flint tools.

The Muck and Mire

The deeper the tunnel gets, the muddier it gets. It could be because the team is currently over the water source, but it could be seepage from rain water, no one is sure. Quitting time reminded us of Psalm 40:

 ¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
   out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
   and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
   a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
   and put their trust in him.  

Powered by Hummus, Olives and Turkish Coffee

Hummus and olives are staples of our evening meals along with tomatoes. We also eat hummus at lunch along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or sandwiches made with cold cuts. Tsvika Tsuk, director of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage at the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, loves Turkish coffee. After lunch each day, one of the Israelis working with our team, usually Tsvika or the crane operator, makes coffee for the team. Some days, Tsvika will bring coffee to the workers down in the tunnel – that’s a nice treat for the weary diggers.

Soon we will have news about the cave at the end of the tunnel ... we hope.


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The Gezer Water System project is co-sponsored by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary under the direction of Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist at INPA, and Dan Warner, co-director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS.

May 30 Gezer Update

By Gary D. Myers

Work got off to a slow start Monday because sandbag steps were needed in several areas near the bottom of the tunnel. It was a slow process, the team couldn’t dig while the bags were filled and place due to concerns on falling debris. Once the sand bags were placed the team worked hard and finished with 97 bags of dirt and rocks (just eight bags less than the day before). Sixty bags were filled after lunch.

Above the Water Source/Closer to the Cave
Before this year’s dig, Dr. Jim Parker developed a detailed CAD drawing of the tunnel based on measurements he has taken and the account of a 1908 excavation by R.A.F. Macalister. Based on the CAD calculations, Parker believes that the team is currently working above the water source. He said that if the team were to dig straight down approximately seven feet, they would reach the spring at the bottom of the tunnel. However, the prime objective is to reach the cavern/cave at the end of the tunnel, so the team is currently clearing from the roof of the tunnel down about 10 feet.

Based on computer calculations, Parker believes the team will reach the cave during this year’s dig.

The Excavation Process – How the Team Removes the Dirt

1. Three to five people use picks and shovels to loosen the dirt, mud and rocks and from the tunnel.
2. The debris is loaded into large fabric bags. Each bag holds around 400 lbs. of material.
3. At the mouth of the water system a large winch is used to drag the bags up the steep grade of the tunnel. Two people are needed to bring the cable down to the work area, another person operates the winch.
4. At the mouth a crane is used to pull the bags up to the dump site. One person attaches the bag to the crane hold and two are need to signal the crane operator.
5. The bags are dropped at the dump site where two people work to empty the bags. At the current dump site another spotter is needed to facilitate the drop.

   Continue steps 1-5 100 times per day.

Click here for Photos


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The Gezer Water System project is co-sponsored by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary under the direction of Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist at INPA, and Dan Warner, co-director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS.

Introduction to the 2011 Gezer Water System Dig

Dr. Daniel Warner

This is our second season at Tel Gezer clearing the ancient water system located just about in the center of the site. Our goal of the first season (2010) was to reach the sources of the water at the end of this 145 ft. long tunnel dug by whom we believe to be the Canaanites. This was not accomplished so we are continuing the probe this summer to reach this objective. What we have done is expose for the first time some of the characteristics of this remarkable water system which have not been seen since Macalister (early 1900’s) and then only him and a few choice workers. What we were able to expose last year was a second mantel spreading most of the width of the vaulted roof which was described by Macalister somewhat and pictured in a line drawing. Below this mantel or ledge, are a series of ribbed like features in the ceiling of the vaulted roof. They seem to continue down to the entire length of the water shaft after the second mantel. The exact purpose for this ribbing is yet to be determined.  Our goal them is to continue our probe and see if we can reach the source of the water and a large cavern associated with it too better understand the  engineering mechanics of the ancient inhabitants many thousands  of years ago.


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The Gezer Water System project is co-sponsored by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary under the direction of Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist at INPA, and Dan Warner, co-director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS.

Quick Update - Week One

Karla Noles & Melba Miller move a bag of debris.

The Gezer Dig is going very well. The team has removed more than 100 tons of dirt and debris and cleared out 20 feet of the tunnel.

PHOTOS
You can find a photo gallery of Gezer dig photos at http://gallery.me.com/abphoto#100872 which is being updated by Art Beaulieu.

VIDEO
Art has also produced a small video about the dig here DIG VIDEO.


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The Gezer Water System project is co-sponsored by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary under the direction of Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist at INPA, and Dan Warner, co-director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS.

Gezer Dig Photos

© Art Beaulieu

© Art Beaulieu

© Art Beaulieu

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The Gezer Water System project is co-sponsored by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary under the direction of Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist at INPA, and Dan Warner, co-director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS.

Mining the Biblical Text

By Karla Noles

GEZER, ISRAEL -- In my class on biblical hermeneutics (interpretation), I was taught that proper exegesis of the Bible involves mining and sifting of the biblical text in order to get through to the real depth of the text: a variety of layers of truth. Those precious nuggets of truth often come only after the long tedious work of intense examination of the text by means of language, history, and context among other aspects.

           

While taking those exegetical classes in seminary, I never realized that one day, I would get to mine the biblical text literally; but in a sense, that’s what we’re doing here in Israel at the Tel Gezer dig. The ancient city of Gezer is mentioned in 1 Kings 9:15-16. Pharaoh had originally conquered and burned the city, but King Solomon rebuilt it after receiving it as a dowry when he married Pharaoh’s daughter.

           

May 22 was our first day at the dig site where we began digging trying to reach the Gezer water system built during Canaanite times. The process is difficult and dirty as our group works to extract the rocks and dirt currently blocking the entrance of the water system. Bag by bag with incredible team effort, we remove the dirt by shoveling it into bags, using a wench to pull the bags to the entrance of the cavern, then using a crane to lift the bags out of the cavern.  Groups and individuals have come from across the U.S. to join this effort to get us closer to our goal of uncovering this well.

           

Throughout this unearthing process, it’s humbling to realize that we are examining life as it was in biblical times. We are beginning to see the world as the biblical readers might have seen it so that when I read the text, I don’t impose my own ideas, interpretation, and understanding into it.  Seeing the text in its social and visual context adds an entirely new layer of understanding to it.

           

Right now, our task involves hard work and painstaking effort. In the same way, biblical interpretation, like archaeology, involves difficult work. But the result of the work is truth that changes lives. While the work, right now, in this archaeological project is tough, the end result hopefully will involve a new understanding of life in the Bible times, which in turn opens our twenty-first century eyes to a new worldview enabling us to read our Bibles better in the way that the biblical readers would have seen the world. Biblical archaeology brings us closer to the biblical text and opens up new understandings of truth in ways that we never before have seen. Personally, in my own life, I see how simply being here is opening my eyes to a new understanding of the scripture which clarifies more my understanding of truth. And that new understanding makes the entire process worthwhile.  

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Karla Noles graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary this May with a Master of Divinity with a specialization in Christian Thought.