Archive - June 2018

1
Pottery Reading
2
Second Breakfast
3
Field School: Registry
4
What if Seasons Never Actually Ended?
5
Field School: Seeing a Place
6
Anticipating Abila

Pottery Reading

During my freshman year of college, I took a Gateway class with Dr. Vila. On the first day, he shared a slideshow with photos of Abila. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to come to Jordan. Since arriving two weeks ago, I’ve been excavating Square 22 of Area AA, uncovering ancient Roman walls. While excavating is exciting, the real reward is learning about the former inhabitants of Abila themselves through the artifacts they left behind. Each morning, my square partner Kari and I fill plastic buckets with pottery to take back to camp. Dr. Susan, our area supervisor,[…]

Read More

Second Breakfast

Posting from the Abila Archaeological Project.  “Break!” Dr. Susan announces. Excavators drop their picks and scurry up ladders. Wheelbarrows screech to a stop. Empty guffas tumble over stone walls. Binders full of top plans snap shut. We all know what Dr. Susan’s words mean: it’s food time. Members of the Abila crew unzip backpacks and pull out sack lunches packed by the camp chef—flat bread, a hardboiled egg, an orange, a tomato and a triangle slab of cheese wrapped in foil. Jordanian team members trail toward their resting spot—the shaded gap between the wall of a Byzantine church and what we[…]

Read More

Field School: Registry

Posting from the Abila Archaeological Project.  My favorite room at camp is the registry. In layman’s terms, it’s where cool stuff gets sorted and documented. During field school, dozens of JBU students crammed into the registry for a training session. They clustered around desks covered with Munsell soil charts, rulers, pail tags and microscopes. Peter, our resident priest and registrar, explained that archaeology is destruction, purposeful demolition for the sake of learning. Because the sediment and artifacts we uncover can never be returned to their original state, documenting our work with great care is critical to honoring history. After providing[…]

Read More

What if Seasons Never Actually Ended?

I’m sitting with two of my best friends by a window in the cafeteria. The sunlight is streaming in… it’s a beautiful Monday, a great start to the week. As I look around at everyone entering, sitting, leaving, I see four different friends getting their own food and then sitting down at individual tables. Less than three months ago we ate all of our meals together. This is a thought that makes me pause. Can it be? My semester studying abroad in Ireland feels so long ago. It’s like it was a different lifetime, and I’m a time-traveler, jumping between[…]

Read More

Field School: Seeing a Place

40+ volunteers, staff members, JBU students and alumni are in Northern Jordan for 4 weeks at the Abila Archaeological Project.  Earlier this week, our excavation crew traveled to base camp in Harta, a village in northern Jordan. Gradually, our bodies are adjusting to jet lag, late nights of talking on the rooftop, and waking up at 4 a.m. to excavate. With the help of afternoon naps and Turkish coffee, we’re finding our rhythm. As a returning staff member, I enjoy seeing JBU students encounter Jordan for the first time. They approach each experience with a certain sense of magic. Their[…]

Read More

Anticipating Abila

This summer 40+ volunteers, staff members, JBU students and alumni will spend four weeks in Northern Jordan at the Abila Archaeological Project. The team will be excavating, conserving, restoring and publishing the archaeological site of Abila of the Decapolis. Several team members will be sharing their journey here on the blog. By Gabrielle Marcy ’17 (Graphic Design) In 2016, I studied abroad in Jordan. That summer changed me as I uncovered history, developed cross-cultural friendships, experienced deep hospitality and wrestled with complex questions. This summer, I’m thrilled to return for another dig season. In preparation for the trip, I reached out[…]

Read More

Copyright © 2014. Created by Meks. Powered by WordPress.