Some very interesting things happened this week in the Temple’s South Trench. On Monday, Leif discovered the edge of the wall we were looking for. It ended up bisecting our trench diagonally, going to the Southeast’s corner. Since we found the wall…finally…I spent the first half of the week articulating it with trowels, which is cleaning it so we can see what’s going on better. Through this process, we determined that this wall didn’t have any mortar to it, meaning that whatever ancients built it, they just stacked a bunch of stones on top of each other. Once what we could see was properly articulated/ when Leif hit bedrock in the SW corner, Rebecca, out opta mater (T.A.), set us to different tasks: Leif to the bedrock, and me to tear down the wall of fill that resided in the pit (i.e. the previously dug trench in our trench). So for the last half of the week, I’ve been methodically taking it down bit by bit. I haven’t found too much there, only some shards of glass and pottery, but I have this wonderful opportunity to allow the wall to see the light of day, a privilege it did not have even in the Roman Era. And I find getting rid of all the dirt extremely satisfying, especially when I’m seeing more of this wall. On the other hand, its shrinking height makes it quite fun for my back, which I have to keep bent. But, I see it as a small price to pay for excavating an actual Roman wall…and the shade that I get for living in the pit. I also really love how we can always see the progress in our trenches…it’s a way of showing how our work matters.
This picture is my view from the bottom of my lovely pit. Pardon the shovel.
On a more interesting note, Dr. Hoff comes from Troutdale, Oregon, which is located not too far from my hometown, Portland.
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