A Day in Dhiban

A post from Alan Farahani:

A Day in Dhiban

Like many other archaeologists, my day is largely structured around the flow of the team work schedule. My name is Alan, and I am the team “environmental archaeologist”. As members of the team, each of us has distinct but complementary roles to play in excavation, processing, and analysis. As I am involved in environmental archaeological research, I am interested in understanding the physical and cognitive aspects of how people have managed their lives in their immediate surroundings throughout time. In the modern world we have become increasingly aware of our own impact on the environment, and my research here at Dhiban will aid in uncovering just exactly how local communities managed to make ends meet. Although these aren’t my only interests in the field of archaeology (the study of languages is an important part of my research) there’s only so much you can do in one season!

I typically wake up every day around 4 or 4:30 am. If my roommate’s alarm doesn’t wake me up, the call of the muezzin (the individual who makes the Islamic call to prayer) will. After shuffling my largely unconscious body through the process of brushing my teeth and getting ready, I put on my excavation clothes and head out to our team lab. From the lab I gather my materials for the day, which include notebooks, artifact cards, the daily top plan of my square, and other odds and ends.

The tell which are excavating is only a short walk from the lab, and I am usually there working at about 5:15 or 5:10 am. Despite the fact that outside of excavations I have trouble waking up at 9am, this is a great time to be out as the sunrise over the tell is breathtaking and the air is cool. With the aid of Karl Toomet, I then begin drawing and excavating. Our square is pretty exciting as we have what seems to be a Mamluk era building with some potential Byzantine and Iron Age layers. This usually continues on until 8:30 am, at which point we head off the tell for breakfast.

After a usual rowdy breakfast, most of the team heads back to the tell to continue working until about 1:00 PM. Depending on the workload, however, I head back to the lab to start the analysis of dirt samples known as flotation. Flotation is an archaeological technique that allows archaeologists to recover carbonized remains. It seems rather odd to be chasing after burnt trash, but I like to think of it in terms of the American show CSI. In CSI, crime scene investigators are able to piece intricate stories using scientific analyses of small traces of rubbish. Maybe it only helps me sleep better at night, but the recovery of these remains allows me to do the same things, except for the reconstruction of past cultures often thousands of years old. In the days to come I will probably explain flotation a bit more.

After either floting or excavating, we then head to lunch at 1:00 PM. After lunch, we have free time until 4:00 PM. Many people go home and take a nap, relax, or have some tea. Rather than that, I usually work out for about 45 minutes much to the amusement of the rest of my team members. I then shower, and head back to the lab around 4:00 PM to finish either floting or any remaining paperwork that needs to be addressed. If the situation calls, I may also process artifacts like pottery.

We do this until about 6:00 PM at which point we have dinner. Then around 7:00 PM we usually have a lecture to attend. Finally, at around 8:30 we are done for the day. No one can say that archaeologists don’t work! I am usually in bed around 10:30 PM for another day.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Russell Escapes!

From Russell Gentry:

This is my final week at the ’09 Dhiban Excavation Project. It’s been a great experience, and I’m sorry to have to abandon ship mid-journey. I’ve learned a lot about archaeology, Jordan, and limited-water-hygiene. I’m grateful that the directors and experienced crew members have been so willing to help teach me the ins and outs of excavation. I have participated in two previous field experiences but the first one was light on the archaeological education and the second was hardly a proper dig at all. Additionally, as a history major and anthropology minor, I have spent lots of class time working with published archaeological evidence, but little time studying actual field methodology. The Dhiban project has been a great place to learn proper field techniques because of its integration of many different types of field procedures, and the fact that the undergraduates change “field roles” weekly. In my four weeks on the project, I’ve been able to get hands-on experience with site-grid setup using a total station, surveying and data collection (in order to select sounding areas), archaeological floatation, and geology. This is, of course, in addition to digging in the trenches, which I’ve been able to help out with as well. I have gained valuable knowledge about the processes that are involved in selecting sites, setting up sites for excavation, and the various ways in which myriad forms of data are collected and brought together to study the past. I look forward to seeing how the project develops and will miss my new friends, teachers, and the Tell in the days to come.

~Russell Gentry

Filed under: Uncategorized

Jordan & America

Courtney, on differences between Jordan and America:

America > Jordan

1.    Water.
2.    Toilet seats you can sit upon.
3.    Something more akin to gender equality.
4.    Going out without the nigh necessity of male accompaniment.
5.    Water.
6.    Drinking water from the tap.
7.    Screens on windows.
8.    No dust to make my camera/other electronics/contacts cranky.
9.    No concrete homes with random rebar haphazardly sticking about.
10.    Water.
11.    Being able to let the shower water run on your skin.
12.    Condiments. Ketchup. Mustard. Miracle whip.
13.    More trees/plant life. I miss shady maples.
14.    Ice cubes that are completely safe.
15.    Water.

Jordan > America

1. Manners in the area of overwhelming hospitality. Often if you walk into a shop and make conversation with the owner, in about 20 minutes you’ll be sitting down, having tea and biscuits with him/her. Jordanians hardly ever get to their intended destinations in a timely manner as they are constantly being invited to tea while walking down the street.
2. The wonderful fact that you can spill water here and not concern yourself with wasting paper towels or just time/effort to clean it up. When you return in 20-30 minutes, the water will have evaporated completely.
3. Mold literally cannot live here. Not in Sarah’s soap container, and not in my dirty/wet clothes that I sometimes leave in piles.
4. Sunsets/Sunrises. Jordanian sunsets over are just beyond beautiful. Sorry Midwest, Jordan has trumped you in this department.
5. The bee/wasp population in Jordan is significantly less than that in America. This pleases Alan and myself.
6. Non-existent humidity.
7. Jordanian desserts (delicious!) and the strange, flat, sort of pita-like bread we purchase fresh and eat daily.
8. Beautiful archaeology. Beautiful mosaics, beautiful art. A rich history that spans centuries and resides alongside the modern. Refreshingly different from home.

Filed under: Uncategorized, jordan

Dhiban by the Numbers

17: Flea bites on my left hand
5: Workmen
3: Words I learned in Arabic (horribly transliterated: Gumu, Suu-on, Harrrr = “get out” “chert” “hot”)
6: Hours of sleep (a good night!)
103: Iron Age, Roman, and Mamluk pot sherds from my trench
16: Tags I filled out for finds
8: Cups of tea consumed by 13:00
38: Guffaws full of rocks and dirt that went out of my trench today
3: Slices of watermelon
2: Dustpans that broke as I was using them
1: Seashell from the Red Sea

Filed under: Uncategorized, dhiban archaeology

Jordanian Hospitality and Touring

An update from Sara, a Knox student:

I have been overwhelmed by the hospitality I have experienced.  While shopping in Madaba twice after chatting and looking for a while with the shopkeeper my group and I were presented with small tokens of Jordan (tiny olive wood crosses and small Jordanian flags).  We were also offered tea and seats in one shop.  I am not particularly naive and these were the shops in which we spent the longest time and spent the most (mostly my companions, I plan to spread my souvenir purchases out over my stay here especially considering we have a number of weekend trips planed to the high points of Jordanian Archaeology, but I digress).  Indeed more than one shop keeper mentioned tourists were few and far between this time of year.  However, I think the hospitality went beyond trying to secure a sale.  At all times I felt that the shop keepers were equally friendly when we didn’t buy something.  Upon arriving home I mentioned this to the directors and they said that the Jordanians were quite proud of their reputation as one of the most hospitable people.  And I can see that.  Further examples on Jordanian hospitality spring to mind.  On Thursday the girls on the excavation were invited to the wedding celebration of the sister in-law of the Jordanian liaison and translator on the dig.  Even though we were strangers, who spoke very little Arabic, the women, who spoke very little English, made every effort to make us feel welcome and to make conversation with us.  Even walking in Dhiban we have been invited into total strangers’ houses to take tea. 

7.7

Sara Patterson

Hello all again,

Sorry about the delay with the last post.  There were a few difficulties to overcome before the internet could be reached.

This past weekend we took an educational field trip to Jerash and several other sites.  The reconstructed Jerash was wonderful.  It was my first experience with a classical temple.  Wait I tell a lie…I saw the Pantheon, which while awesome is not quite typical so I amend my statement it was my first standard temple (ie big steps, alter area, rectangular, big pillars etc.) Anyway, having studied Rome and Greece I had a vague idea how monument the temples were supposed to be, but I had never considered that they would be so huge.  The temple of Artimus was completely massive the entrance started 100 m to the right of the cardo road, continued for another 100m plus  up a massive reconstructed staircase, up to the alter with its well and then in to the temple proper with place for the cult statue in the far back.  Even though much of the decoration, statues, walls and roof was missing it was impossible to not  feel overwhelmed with the majesty a deity is supposed to inspire.  It felt very much like I was walking into on of the great cathedrals of Europe.  Also the scale inspired awe was augmented by the realization that this site was two thousand (at least) years old and that I was standing where the ancient Romans had stood (and a lot of other people too, but I’ll admit I have a thing for the Romans so I tend to think of them first).  I’ll admit one of my favorite things to do at a site like that is to imagine that I am a Roman striding along the streets, visiting the nymphaeum (monument to important ie wealthy people), the theater, the baths etc. Of course then my practical side kicks in and I remind myself that I am currently walking in the street and that if I was doing that in Roman times I would be ankle deep (or deeper) in muck, everything would smell, and that I probably would be a slave, being of Eastern European origins.    On a lighter note, the reconstructed theater is pretty nifty as well and I saw something there I never expected to see in Jordan; a two man bagpiper and drum band.  They were playing in the orchestra of the theater and when I entered there was a group of young men doing Middle Eastern style dancing to the music.  The other sites were well worth the visit as well, the ovoid agora, cardo (main street) with standing pillars, temple of Zeus (which we couldn’t go into because it was under construction), the hippodrome (sports area), Arch of Hadrian and churches with mosaic floors.  The mosaics are really quite beautiful and it is quite tragic that some of them had their human figures replaced with plain white tessera  during the iconoclasm debate (ie the debate in Christianity over whether it was ok to make  human images or not. By the way I apologize for those of you who find my explanations unnecessary.  You see I’m not sure who is reading and I want to make sure most things are accessible to everyone).  So that was just the briefest taste of Jerash and I am afraid I will not be able to write about the rest of the sites because of time but let me write a brief note on driving in Jordan.  As one of our team observed, unlike driving in the US, Jordanian driving is organic.  Lanes are only suggestions, if there is space between two cars you obviously should put your car there.  Passing should be done when ever necessary not just when road conditions allow clear vision ahead.  And you should go at the speed that is right for you.  I have also seen entire Jordanian families (father, mother and 5 children in one small car.  The cars are everything from old VW bugs to shinny new hummers.  And even though it seems to be mass chaos most of the time I have only seen one accident.  It really is quite remarkable. 

Well break is over and its time to wash another round of pottery. Take care all.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Dhiban Impressions

From Abby, a Knox student:

Excavation is well under way here at Tel Dhiban.  One of my favorite things about this trip is seeing the sunrise over the Tel in the early morning.  The Jordanian landscape is surprisingly beautiful!  Last week I excavated in the interior of a room of a Mamluk house, looking for some sort of living surface through roof collapse.  Meanwhile, we found two fire installations and a large bin against the wall.  There was a possible partially preserved living surface we found on the east side of the room.  One exciting find I found in the sift was a small stone spindle whorl which someone once used for sewing. 

This week I was rotated to a trench that was started from scratch this season on the hill above Mesha’s palace.  We are still currently digging in the Islamic period and making our way down eventually to the Iron Age, where we will hopefully find some interesting things.  My unofficial job here is now the pottery labeler.  It’s quite tedious work, but some music on makes the job go faster.  Unfortunately, it is rather hard to dance and write in miniscule letters at the same time.

The weekend trips are a great break from the hard work we do here.  We went to Jerash last weekend and a couple friends and I spent a good hour or so sitting on top of the Temple of Artemis enjoying the view.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I also saw some Roman theaters both at Jerash and Umm Queis.  Sitting in ancient theaters is one of my favorite feelings, so it was nice to experience that so many times in a row.  The scaenae frons of Roman theaters are also much better preserved than Greek ones since the Romans made them out of stone, so it was amazing to see the actual stages.  One theater at Umm Queis was in the process of being excavated, and the cavea (seating area) was still covered, but you could see the curve in the hill and the archways supporting the seats poking out.  It was really interesting!

Filed under: Uncategorized

In a Mamluk Ruin

For the last week I have been excavating a Mamluk-era barrel vault, previously excavated in 2004 and 2005. After cleaning out tons of limestone blocks used as backfill, we started to try to sort out the major architectural features in the building—in particular there’s a mysterious cistern, which was cut in the northern wall that I’m itching to investigate. While trying to clear some of the caved-in ceiling (and upper floor) from the barrel vault, I found a nice little fire pit, dug right next to the east wall and full of charcoal. We sampled the charcoal extensively, and I started to excavate the feature.

From the top the fire pit was circular in shape, but as I went deeper it became obvious that the people who dug the pit couldn’t be bothered to move the same rock tumble I was struggling with. This fire pit was dug after what we call the primary occupation of the site—the structure was used opportunistically by people who appear to have had a bit of goat for dinner, judging by the nearby bone and tooth I found. We’ll know better when Alan sorts out the phytolith and flotation samples that we took. He’s looking for evidence of plant remains to determine ancient climate and regional diet.

So these people who dug the pit chose the very northeastern corner of the building, which is quite far away from what we think was the door. Yet at this time, the building had at least caved-in partially, as the fire pit intrudes into a collapsed layer. The fire pit was also quite small, measuring only about .3m x .3m x .3m deep and the area near the fire was only large enough for one person to cook.

The town of Dhiban is situated on the next tell over, and it is cacophonous, full of shouts and dogs barking, calls to prayer at all hours (including 3am), welding, sirens, you name it. I began to wonder if the tell site of Dhiban was once the same way, noisy and full of mayhem. But I also know that it was not always this way, that Dhiban has been through periods of occupation and near abandonment, and I wonder if the fire pit was built during one of those quiet times, a single line of smoke dividing the evening sky, and a very small group, perhaps only one person, standing in the Roman, Byzantine, and Mamluk ruins and enjoying the view of the wadi and the night sky.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Extreme Archaeology!

Sara Patterson: Hello everyone from Dhiban. We have now been on site a few days and it has been quite an experience. Our first day we developed a new extreme sport; extreme weeding, weeding with pickaxes. Mid western weeded have nothing on Jordanian weeds. The prinicpal plant we were removing is called shoke (note all of my spellings of Arabic words are phonetic and I will attemept to include pronuncialtion guides because my spelling is iffy at the best of times. For shoke imagin the first half of shock mashed onto the front of choke). Anyway shoke is a thigh high thistle like plant that has prickels eveyrwhere and not just little prickles, BIG prickles. It does have pretty purple flowers on top and the goats seem to like it. The other plant we were removing is called crown of thorns and it is only about 6 in high but it has masses of one inch long thorns that seem to leap out of nowhere to stab unsuspcting flesh. Both the shoke and crown of Thorns prickels go through leather gloves like they weren’t there.  After a morning of battle the local flora was defeated, altought we were not without our casulties, and we moved on to clearing several areas in which we are to work. I was set to removing the back fill from a previously excavated Mamluk house. The work was hot and hard (there were lots of big rocks to move). We also removed some of the soil fill. (note According to all the archaeologists I have spoken with it is only dirt when it is under your fingernails at all other times it is soil.) During this adventure I met some of the more famose members of the local fauna; the black and brown scorpions. Luckly scorpions tend to be slow moving and generally confused so it is not hard to capture and dispatch them. Unfortunatly, the only one of the 8 we discovered that excaped was a brown scorpion. The brown scorpions are more poisones than the black ones. And so there is a wily brown scorpion still lurking in the fill we are going to be removing in the next few days. So my first few days here have been an introduction to many things; dirt in vast quantities (and not just under my nails), hot dry heat, the local wildlife etc. Tune in next time and you will hear about a wedding party the girls will get to attend, the early morning call of the muezin (moo-eh-zin), adventuers in Jordanian driving and much much more.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Ready to Fly!

I’m coming to the Dhiban project out of a desire to excavate and document a comparative site for my dissertation. When the site that I usually work at, Çatalhöyük, decided to have a study season this year instead of excavation (of course they’re still excavating!), I looked around for other projects that would fit well into my dissertation work.  I contacted Benjamin Porter in UC Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies department, and have worked with him on projects since that time.

My primary role at Dhiban will be photography and video documentation of excavation and finds, but I hope to have some time to excavate as well. I feel well prepared for work in the Middle East, and though I will miss Turkey tremendously, it will be great to explore the history of a new part of the world, as well as take in a few of the regional attractions.  I’ve wanted to go to the Dead Sea since I was a small child, and now I finally get a chance!

So my bags are packed and the last minute preparations are finished–I’ll be flying out tomorrow, SFO -> JFK -> CDG -> IST -> AMM! Wish me luck!

Filed under: Project Thoughts, archaeology, dhiban, jordan

Thoughts About Dhiban

Here are a few thoughts in anticipation of leaving for Jordan, by Abigail Harms:

I am hoping that the Dhiban Field School will teach me many valuable things not only about archaeology and the history of Dhiban, but about Jordanian culture in general as well. Their way of life will be entirely new to me, and by the end of the field season I am sure I will have a much greater understanding of the people, or at least that is what I am striving for. In the technical aspects, I am excited to learn what it actually takes to be an archaeologist and how this field of study works in the real world outside of college classrooms. Overall, I see this trip as being a life-changing experience and I am greatly looking forward to it!

Filed under: Project Thoughts