Week 1: Part 1

    Because I decided to write this blog in the middle of Week 2, I'll summarize, to the best of my ability, the goings on of Week 1.   Upon arriving in Ashkelon, the volunteers, students, and staff found their rooms at the Dan Gardens Hotel in Ashkelon, about five minutes from both the beach and the archeological site.  Most people here are either in college or grad school but there are some older folks too.  There are probably about 50 people on the dig in total, including staff. Ashkelon is situated less than 12km from Gaza and recently unveiled a fancy new defense system to prevent Palestinian rockets from destroying us all.  Essentially, if Sarah Palin was here she might claim that she could see Gaza from her house. 
     We arrived on a Saturday and immediately began work at 5a.m. the following morning.  I was assigned to Grid 51 (one of three grids).  Each grid is a 100x100m square in various parts of the national park in Ashkelon.  The grids represent all different time periods, ranging from the early bronze age (around 1500BCE) all the way up through the Islamic Period. 
      I spent my first day in a drain that dated back roughly to the Byzantine period (Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages).  This 3x10ft drain housed myself and two other girls while we cleaned, scraped and swept all of the dirt that had coated the site since the previous summer.  Our other gridmates did the same in various parts of the grid.  Because it was impossible to tell exactly when the pottery and other materials came from, everything we found had to be discarded. 
     We worked until 1p.m.  I don't think I've ever been so dirty in my life.  My skin felt gritty and was a completely different color than it had been eight hours before.  It's amazing how easily I adjusted to being so dirty.  Now it really doesn't bother me anymore, even though the water circling the drain still runs an ugly greenish-brown color whenever I shower. 
     Most of the first week was spent cleaning the winter-wash from the site.  I spent two days pick-axing.  Yes, friends and family, someone actually decided to trust me with a pick axe (and I didn't hurt anyone or myself!).  We also had a day of workshops learning about everything that happens to our beloved pottery sherds post-excavation.  Some of it was really interesting- especially the workshop about GIS (geographic information systems) which maps out our site based on geology and helps us date various artifacts. 
     Overall, I had a great first week.  I learned a lot, worked really hard, and generally managed to avoid sunburn.