First Concorda team has arrived in Israel

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The first Concordia team has arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Israel.  They have met up with four team members who arrived previously and are awaiting the arrival.of the team from Concordia Irvine.  The second Concordia team depart for Israel today (July 3).  The dig begins on Sunday 5 July.

Dr. M. Schuler
Welcome to Dig It!, the blog chronicling the final season of the Concordia University Team's excavation of the NE church at Hippos on the Golan Heights in Israel.  Andrea Heiliger and I will have the JOY of posting daily updates once we're in Israel.  But some of us (the Drs. Schuler) are living and breathing Hippos dig details on a daily basis now.

I have two running check lists, one personal and the other my duties at Regina Logistica for the dig.  Every day I'm whittling away at my lists ...

Personal: Try on those boots from 2006 that have been in the basement for 3 years and make sure they still fit.  Check!  I wore them around the house one day, and they feel fine.

Dig Duties:   Purchase miscellaneous supplies needed for the dig.  Check!  The Drs. Schuler spent Friday night shopping at the local Super Target and Menards getting an eclectic number of items: first aid items (no explanation needed!), ziplock bags in assorted sizes (for storing the daily pottery finds), lunch bags (for collecting small finds like animal bones and glass), and blue paint tape (for re-assembling broken pottery).

Andrea and I PROMISE the blog this season will be MORE INTERESTING than last year's.  Having read a couple of posts from last year, it won't be hard to keep that promise.  I'm looking forward to taking brief movies on the dig with my new pocket camera and posting them here!  Bookmark this page and check it out daily from July 5 through July 30.

Dr. Rhoda Schuler, aka, Regina Logistica

2009 season approaching

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The 2009 season (our final one) begins on 5 July.  The Concordia Team is coming together with about thirty volunteers again.  Excavation plans are in process.  The virtual dig site is undergoing revision.  Watch for more in the days ahead.

On our way home . . .

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The dig ended with a flourish...two oil lamps in two days. After a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and final farewells, the team is on its way home. The adventure continues next summer starting 5 July.

Week 3 -- In the last minutes

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It is not unusual for last minute finds to surprise a dig team. The end of week three was no exception. The "D (for Destruction) Team" was clearing a pavement to the south of the church complex, when the leader (Darryl Schmidt) call for the director. There on the pavement he had unearthed a bronze Roman (?) incense shovel. We were just five minutes from stopping for the day. Cameras worked overtime as we celebrated this spectacular find.

Of course, the interpretation of the find raises many questions . . . off to the library we go.

Week 2 -- Big Team

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With the completion of the second week of excavation, we said good bye to our friends from Canada and to two other volunteers. Thus ended two hectic weeks of excavation. With teams deployed in five areas, we identified a second decumanus for the city, got to the very foundations of the atrium, explored facilities to the east of the church, and began probing what might be under the church complex. To the later questions, we can confidently say, bedrock. There is little evidence of pre-exisiting structures.

But before the departure of our friends, we spent three days in Jordan with a focus on Petra. What a time!

Week 1

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"Eventful" is an overused but accurate word for a week of excavation. Weeds, stones, and soil have yielded to a coin, a pendant, walls, a staircase, column drums, and other mysteries yet to be identified fully.

In all areas we are on or ahead of schedule. We will be opening two new squares (A2 and B5) in the next week.

The team is excellent . . . hard working and fun with new friendships fast forming. The returning veterans are the glue holding the project together, putting in many hours in the lab and well as providing leadership in the field.

For these good people and their good work, I am thankful.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

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At least four dead, dozens hurt in Jerusalem terror attack - Haaretz - Israel News

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998294.html

Due to the terrorist attack, the trip to Jerusalem has been canceled. Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

O, Canada...

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O Canada.WMV

Feel free to sing along!

Canada Day resolution

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The following was received for consideration by the director of the Northeast Church Project at Hippos:

From These Hosers to Y'all

Whereas there are no less than 8 Canadians among those at the 2008 Hippos-Sussita dig;

And

Whereas July 1st is a mandatory and statutory holiday;

And

Whereas Canada Day celebrates such goodly and Christian things like: good government, good order, good beer and good hockey;

And

Whereas Canada Day celebrates the creation of the peaceful, true, north strong and free dominion of Canada, member of the British Commonwealth, by the Father's of Confederation, not with musket and bayonet, but with a case of Scotch and an act of British Parliament;

And

Whereas Canadians everywhere, under the authority of our sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, must submit to the laws of the Dominion;

And

Whereas the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that Canada has been founded "By the rule of law and under the authority of God," marking it as a nation that serves the will of our creator and Lord;

And

Whereas this good assembly seeks only to serve the will of God;

And

Whereas the Americans among us will be free to celebrate their National Holiday with a day off in Jerusalem;

We the undersigned do humbly request leave for tomorrow in order to celebrate our nation's day, in the traditional manner: beer, lounging around, shopping, singing our national anthem and the most hallowed poking fun at our neighbors to the south.

Jenn Shack

Bill Hayes

Darren Siegle

Quinn

Michael J. Fox

William Shatner

Michael Myers

Jim Carrey

Tim Hurton

Celine Dion