S9: Week 1, Day 5 — Sorry for the Delay...

Sorry for the delay. It has been a very busy few days. We finished the first week strong. The surrounding area may be scorched but within the excavation we continue to make good progress. On Wednesday afternoon we had our first opportunity to wash pottery. Rich finds that remained from last season had sat in the buckets for a year. This morning those working on east of the church continued to excavate down through the Byzantine level. They uncovered what appears to be a water channel and we will need to wait until next week to confirm its dating. We were also joined by an Israeli family (friends of Ayelet) who joined us from Haifa. Sunya oversees the wonderful "second breakfasts" on site with the help of Anna Wong. Our excavation in the open area within the basilica finally worked through many large field stones to begin revealing what appears to be cut stones that belonged to walls. They do not appear to be in situ but they signal that next week we may unearth the remains of earlier walls under the church. During our digging we found a lot of pottery dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods. Several coins were found and also a lead fishing weight. In the late afternoon I guided the volunteers through the synagogue and church at Magdala and they had the opportunity to swim in the Sea of Galilee at Kibbutz Gennosar. In the evening Sunya and I were able to enjoy an dinner at Helena's Restaurant in Beth Shean with Achia and Hana KohnTavor.