I got real dirty today

We had great weather again today, although very cold, as we headed out to participate in an archaeological dig that was in progress in a city called Maresha, and then later to Adullam, where David and his 400 followers lived while hiding out from Saul.

The dig was fun; first we went down into the caves and began breaking up the dirt and putting it into buckets. When we found stuff, mostly pottery, we put it in the "finds" bucket. There were several rooms in these huge caves; they said that this city was abandoned and the people who lived there basically threw all their stuff in these caves and destroyed their homes and burned it all before leaving, to escape being captured. The head archaeologist was actually there today and was able to tell us about the pieces we uncovered.

Found one!Afterward we formed a line and got all our buckets out of the caves, then had to sift through the dirt to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Our guide also took us into some newer caves where they have not yet started to dig. You have to crawl in some parts. I'll spare you more cave pictures, at least until later in the post. Actually I whacked my head pretty hard on a big rock that was sticking out of the wall in there and got one of those giant lumps that last about a half hour, so I didn't go all the way through. I guess I've seen plenty of caves and tunnels on this trip, so I didn't feel like I was missing out. :)

After lunch we drove out to Adullam (see 1 Samuel 22:1-2). This is a big hill covered with huge caves. It was cool to imagine David and his men (and probably some women) living here. For all practical purposes, the kingdom of Israel started in these very caves. (Warning: more cave pictures.)

George Bush left Israel today. And it's not supposed to rain for the rest of the week. This is crazy, and not too good for Israeli agriculture. We think our professor Dr. Rigsby ("Big Rig") has a lucky rabbit foot or something that's bringing us all the sunshine. :)