"Wonderful Things"

Recently a friend, Katherine, sent a clipping of this installment of the cartoon "Overboard" by Chip Dunham and it got me to thinking about the nature of treasure. When one thinks of pirates one thinks of dubloons and pearl encrusted necklaces. When one thinks of archaeological treasure, one thinks of king Tut's tomb and the fabulous wealth of that boy-king. In Dunham's cartoon he spends the first three frames setting up the joke by recounting the first words of Howard Carter when asked what he saw through the opened door of the tomb, "I see wonderful things!" The final frame is onboard the pirate ship and shows a couch being lifted and the sea-dog Louie is asked what he sees, and the happy transfixed expression on the dog's face wordlessly speaks "Wonderful things".

This humourously throws into relief a problem faced by most archaeologists. When the general public hears that an archaeologist has made a fabulous find in the field, visions of golden treasure dance through their heads but most often we archaeologists get excited by broken pot sherds, fragmentary plaster and grotty bits of corroded iron! Things that get archaeologists all excited often leave non-archaeologists scratching their heads and an excited recitation of the "find of the week" will leave the general public glassy eyed! Treasure is truly in the eyes of the beholder and the archaeologist finds treasure in trodden earth surfaces and the refuse of meals long gone, just as Louie the sea dog found the hidden cache of doggie treats and toys wondrous to behold!

This year at Tel Kedesh in Israel was meant to be a limited excavation season, with most of the emphasis on studying the material already excavated in preparation for publication. But of course whenever you put a spade in the ground, one has the possibility of finding "wonderful things". But this year our "wonderful things" are wonderful on many levels and would be classed as such by anyone who saw them.

In the next series of entries, I will discuss a number of the finds which were particularly interesting and valuable both archaeologically and intrinsically!

Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

At the end of August I was traveling in the Maritimes of Canada with my sister-in-law, Flavia Morden, and we visited the site of Louisbourg on the east coast of Cape Breton. Two days before our visit, Hurricane Bill had pounded this coastline with punishing waves and torrential downpours, but we enjoyed clear skies and a gentle breeze.

The site is a reconstruction of the French fortress of Louisbourg, first established in 1713. It was the third busiest seaport in North America during the 18th century. Because of its strategic importance it was successfully beseiged first by New England troops in 1745 and then by British troops in 1758. It was abandoned by the British in 1768.

The reconstruction of the site was started in the 1960's under Prime Minister Diefenbaker and became the largest reconstruction project in North America, with nearly one quarter of the original walled town having been rebuilt. First the site was excavated as most of the stone buildings had been robbed away, leaving only their foundations. Then by comparing these results with the detailed accounts in archives in France, England, Scotland, the US and Canada, the fortifications and buildings were reconstructed. In many cases, we know exactly who built each structure, have the original architectural plans and know who lived in them.

Today one arrives at the site in buses provided by Parks Canada in order to keep the sprawling parking lots necessary for the hundreds of visitors away from the site. During its heyday, one would have approached the fortress from the sea, like through the seagate, Porte Frederic, seen in the photo above.

Not only military personnel occupied the fortress and the view below shows several houses on the main street leading up from Porte Frederic, including from left to right, the Hotel de la marine, A L'Epee Royal, and the Maison Benoist. Some of the houses are furnished with period furniture, reconstructing the lifestyles of the various inhabitants, while others are fitted with information displays on different aspects of the life of the community: building techniques, trade, fishing, and military life.



During the summer, the town is populated again by reectors who garden, tend livestock, cook, wash clothes, chop wood, tend fires in period dress. So much is known about the original inhabitants that many of the reenactors know not only the names but the lives of the people they are reviving.



Being a fortress, the military had a visible roll to play both in the past and today. Walking through the fortress, the barracks, the military bakery and the smithy, one talks to officers and enlisted men and enjoys accounts of their lives while living here. It is thrilling to be able to watch muskets and cannon being fired. History really comes to life in this amazing corner of Canada's Eastern shore.

Andrea Berlin, Co-director of Tel Kedesh

A couple of weeks ago I talked about Sharon Herbert, one of my directors at Tel Kedesh. Now I have the pleasure to introduce my blog to the other director of Tel Kedesh, Andrea Berlin. Andrea and I were both graduate students at the University of Michigan and she has gone on to fame and glory and is now a professor at the University of Minnesotta in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies. She did her dissertation on the Coarse Wares from Tel Anafa, an excavation directed by Sharon Herbert. Since then she has worked on Hellenistic material all over Israel as well as in Egypt, Cyprus and Turkey, most notably (for my viewpoint as a classical archaeologist) at Troy!

Above you see me and Andrea on the Tel at Kedesh after she gave me an update on the site.

Banias

Last weekend we also went to Banias, another site which is on the slopes of Mt Hermon and is another source for the River Jordan. It has a natural cave carved out of a dramatic rock face. All this natural beauty made it logical that the site should be dedicated to the god Pan when the Ptolemies controlled the Upper Galilee. Pan was the Greek god of herds and wild spaces and was closely associated with Arcadia in Greece. It was usual to chose a cave or wild space in which to worship him, so this cave and rock face with the nearby spring was a natural space.

Above is a view of the spring at Banias.

View of the Temple Terrace at Banias which was built up in front of the cave which one can see in the background. The first temple was built right in front of the cave mouth by Herod the Great (at the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus 27 BCE - 14 CE) and later constructions expanded east across the terrace.

In this picture, Andrea Berlin, our fearless leader explains the excavations of the temple terrace which she participated in for four years during the late 1980's and for which she published the Hellenistic pottery.

Tel Kedesh Group Shots or "Mr DeMille, these pots are ready for their closeup!"

Peter Stone and Meghan McFarlane setting up the shots, observed by Andrew Boos.

A selection of cookware, semi fine and spatter ware vessels.

A group shot of the Semi Fine Wares.

When on an archaeological dig, one can get so immersed in the day to day details of the project that one can lose sight of why we are doing all this... to publish! There are many ways to publish material: preliminary reports, final reports, giving papers at professional meetings and lectures to the general public. One of my professors at Texas A&M, Richard Steffy, said as he wearily prepared for yet another lecture tour, that he would know when his work was finally published when people stopped asking him to give lectures! To that end, one needs lots of good illustrative pictures of the site and its finds.

This past week Peter Stone who is publishing the pottery, prepared with conservator Meghan McFarlane, a series of group shots of material which was excavated by Ameera Elrasheedy in 2008 from an important context in the Hellenistic Administrative building at Tel Kedesh, but only repaired in 2009 by Meghan and Suzanne Davis.

Safet, Capital of the Upper Galilee

On Thursday Miriam Segall suggested an excursion to Sefat (or Safed)as she had visited the city on a tour of Israel 2 years before and wished to revisit a silversmith who she had met then. She invited Bonny and I to accompany her and we took off after lunch.
The drive from Ramot Naftali is beautiful in the hills of of the Upper Galilee. Safet is the hometown of Jewish mysticism or 'kabala' and was an important centre of learning in the late Medieval Period. Now the old city has become a centre for art and handicrafts.
The old city occupies the high ground which is capped by the Citadel whose ruins are set in a wooded park. Miriam, Bonny and I wandered through the old city and soaked in the atmosphere of the narrow streets. We visited a few artists studios and Bonny and Miriam both bought works by Simon Schlutskin.

A door transom decorated with two symmetrically placed lions with three doves flying above.

Another door in old Safet with the same heraldic lions with doves flying above.

View into a courtyard in old Sefat.

Visit to Tel Dan

One of the joys of being on an archaeological dig is the possibility of visiting other sites on the day off. Andrea, one of the co-directors of the Tel Kedesh excavations, loves to tour around and take her students to some of the points of interest in the Upper Galilee. This week she lead the group to Tel Dan and Banias (see the next blog post).
Tel Dan is situated at one of the springs which feeds the Jordan River on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon. It has been occupied since before the impressive Middle Bronze Age arched gate was constructed, and has impressive finds of both the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The archaeological ruins are situated in a lovely National Park and the nature trails wander through a wooded park and criss-cross over the streams. It is a lovely place to spend a hot summer day!
One of the important parts of the site is the High Place. When Jereboam led a group who dissented with Solomon's son Reheboam and came to the Upper Galilee, he had to solve the problem of where his followers would worship now that they were cut off from access to the Temple in Jerusalem. He established two cult centres, at either end of his territory. Tel Dan was the northernmost one.


The Tel Dan High Place is pictured above and you can see the area of the altar on the lower level to the left and the temple proper on the podium to the right. There are two main architectural phases with the early Iron Age construction and then a Hellenistic refurbishment.
Also dating to the Early Iron Age is the citadel gate. As you enter the city gate, you may have been confronted with a judge or dignitary of the city who would monitor who was coming and going. The evidence for this is a dais which was protected by a canopy. There is a foundation and carved stones which would have supported wooden posts. larry Staiger, excavator of Ashkelon has suggested that this foundation may merely be a olive press, but what an olive press was doing right in the passageway of the main gate is a mystery.

Undeterred by the controversy, Meghan, Hannah and I, The Shed Folk, are posed in the picture above on the judge's dais and are looking suitably snooty and judgemental!