Israel at last

I've now been in Israel for about four days (wow, is that really it? huh). We've had two full days of excavation, preceded by a day and a half of clearing assorted brush, including thistles and dry hay, from around the site. Of the many years I've worked in northern Israel, this is perhaps the most quickly I have seen a site "reclaimed" by nature. We promptly took it back. Take that nature!

The thistles were frequently over 6 feet tall and covered in spikes but were not nearly as petrifying as the hay. My resulting allergy attack was truly epic. I am master of the farmer blow.

Other than that, we're still settling in and recovering from a bit of jet lag. I had a really difficult time sleeping the first few nights, with the result that our first day of excavation, I was completely dragging and unenergetic. I wondered, "what the heck happened to me? It's going to be a loooong summer if this doesn't improve." Then, lo and behold, after a two hour nap and solid 6 hours of sleep, today proved much more bearable, almost enjoyable. (I say almost because we're still making our way through topsoil, which is essentially 50 centimeters of churned up modern crap, so we are not doing or finding anything remotely interesting.)

The conservation team here has a website and blog that they update fairly regularly. If you just can't get enough Tel Kedesh (and who could), here you are.