The Pit

The view from the top of the pit

     So, by the middle of week one each member of my grid was assigned a square, a 10x10m portion of the grid.  My grid has three open squares, I was assigned to square 74.  Under the guidance of my supervisor Larry (who I affectionately call Lar Bear), each member of my square was assigned an area that would become our homes for the rest of our time in Ashkelon.  Whether because of his nickname or some other unknown offense, Larry assigned me to the bottommost region of our entire grid: the well.  Not only is there a virtual obstacle course to get in and out of the well, but it is also incredibly difficult to actually accomplish anything (like pick axing, shoveling, or sweeping)  because it is an incredibly small space.  Sometimes it feels as if I'm an animal at the zoo.  Other people in our grid enjoy standing at the top of the 20 foot drop into the well and laughing at the unfortunate well crew. 
     Strange things happen in the well.   I was given a new nickname- Ray-Ray, which pretty much everyone on the trip has started to call me.  From this nickname, we created an imaginary TV show called "Ray-Ray say say it's not okay-kay."  Think Jerry Springer: Excavation Edition.  Recently, my grid supervisor (Kate) has informed me that we will be getting a video camera on the site so we can film my TV show.   Great. 
    I spent the first few days cleaning out the well and articulating stones that, later, my beloved Lar Bear decided were unnecessary and ripped most of them out.  Again, great.  After that, though, I actually got to start excavating.  I was lucky enough to get a fine grid (a 1x1m square) that had lots of pottery sherds and bone fragments.  My fine grid was on the surface above the well (about 20 feet below everyone else)  and used to be a floor, which meant that it had the most material in it.  I didn't find anything that cool but I certainly found a lot.  I filled a whole bucket with shirds.  I also found some obsidian, which was very pretty and some blue glass from the Persian era.