Thursday, May 31, 2012

Gezer Dig 2012 - May 31 Brief Update

Looking UpLooking in the CavernCaveLooking in the Cavern/CaveThe CaveDSC_6755Stephen Woodson Jr.
DSC_6737Stephen Woodson Sr.Dr. Dan WarnerRuss RandallBen Hutchison, Woodson and WoodsonDSC_6686
Dr. Harold Mosley and Dr. Dennis ColeSharon BallouErika SpenglerDSC_6630DSC_6628DSC_6620
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No time for a full blog post tonight. We did make significant progress in the efforts to open up the area around the mouth of the cave.
We pulled out 59 bags today.

Hopefully, we will be able to post a longer blog tomorrow and maybe even a Week One video report from Dr. Dan Warner.



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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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Gezer Dig 2012 – May 30 Update

By Gary D. Myers

Oh how optimistic I was yesterday when I posted the May 29 Update. Those of us who were here last year had spent several days recalling (in agonizing detail) the great difficulty we faced near the end of the tunnel. Yet many of us still believed that we could get through a half width of the tunnel in a day and a half. Well, that didn’t happening. Our stories of the great difficulty we faced in cutting the probe last year were not myth, legend or tall tale. The team struggled in the tightly packed rocks throughout the day today. It is very tough digging and there is more of it in store for us tomorrow.

Today the team pulled out 55 bags of material – mostly rocks. The bag count was limited by the difficult digging and the distance the bags must travel from the bottom of the tunnel. The winch only has one speed – slow. Now the hook is traveling down about 145 feet. It just takes time.

Even though we would all rather be digging inside the cave than busting through rocks, Dr. Jim Parker believes the dig is proceeding right on schedule. For now, we won’t speculate when the team will begin digging in the cave. We will simply focus on our task at hand.

The team is finding many Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery shards, flint tools and pieces of flint tools in the debris. Unfortunately, all of the material items are out of context and cannot help the team answer any questions about the water system or Gezer in general. Today, one team member discovered a nice sized chunk of Cypriot “milk bowl” pottery. These vessels, dating to the Late Bronze Age, were imported from Cyprus. The piece has a white slip with a design consisting of dark intersecting lines.


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Today’s Passage
The passage today is not specific to Gezer, but with the magnificently preserved high place with standing stones at Gezer, the verses are fitting.

Numbers 33:51-53
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.”



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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.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Gezer Dig 2012 - May 29 Update

Russ Randall attaches a bag to crane.
By Gary D. Myers

Today brought another strong effort by the Gezer team. On this second day of the dig the team continued the tunnel clean-up and added more safety measures. The crew removed 40 bags of dirt, rocks and debris.
For most of the day the team continued the job of flattening and smoothing out the hump halfway up the tunnel. The team also placed several catch fences designed to catch falling debris that can dislodge as bags are pulled up the tunnel.  

After shaping up the path for the bags, the team worked to knock down a debris area near the bottom of the tunnel. This area, about half the width of the tunnel, was left last year near the end of the dig season. On June 5, 2011, Dr. Warner and Dr. Parker decide the stop excavating the entire width of the tunnel and focus on reaching the natural cave at the end of the tunnel. Their plan worked and the team was able to reach the cave two days later. This year, Warner and Parker wanted to remove that section in order to open up the entire width of the natural cave and attempt to locate the water source. That work was almost completed today. A bit more work is need in this area on May 30 before the team can move into the cave.

Dig leaders are hopeful that sometime tomorrow afternoon, the team will be digging in the cave again. At that point, the team will begin screening the material taken from the cave.

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Today’s Gezer Passage
Joshua 16:1-10
“(1) The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan, east of the springs of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. (2) It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz ), crossed over to the territory of the Arkites in Ataroth, (3) descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the Mediterranean Sea. (4) So Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, received their inheritance. (5) This was the territory of Ephraim, according to its clans: The boundary of their inheritance went from Ataroth Addar in the east to Upper Beth Horon (6) and continued to the Mediterranean Sea. From Mikmethath on the north it curved eastward to Taanath Shiloh, passing by it to Janoah on the east. (7) Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho and came out at the Jordan. (8) From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites, according to its clans. (9) It also included all the towns and their villages that were set aside for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites.( 10) They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor.



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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 Water System Expedition's photostream

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New photos added to the Gezer photostream. Week One, Day Two.