finito!

We finished digging today, with mixed feelings. Today was one of the toughest and most frustrating yet, which in a weird way was a good way to finish up. Now I wont miss it so much.
We had to backfill two of the squares because they were too dangerous to leave unattended all year until the next season. That meant that all day yesterday and today we had to move back all the dirt we had spent 6 weeks moving out of the squares back into them. After a lot of snipping at eachother, though, we actually finished early. I cant move my arms above my head, but damn do I feel buff.

The next couple of days we just have to relax. Tonight almost everyone is going into Amman to go dancing, and tomorrow we have our final party with all the people we worked with. I'm excited for both, but it's weird that tomorrow night will probably be the last time I see any of the guys we worked with.

I'm not sure if I am excited to be home or sad to leave, but it's been a good six weeks.

I think this is probably it for the blog. I'll see you all soon!

iconoclasm

Iconoclasm is about the coolest thing ever. I mentioned earlier that last weekend we went around Madaba to see the mosaics and sites. We saw tons of mosaics from around the 8th century, many of which were still very well preserved. The most interesting ones, however, were the ones that weren't. After the Muslim conquest in the 8th century a decree banning depiction of animals in humans in artwork soon followed. Many mosaics were destroyed or went under iconoclasm, where the tiles of the animals and humans in churches and public places were reorganized and jumbled. It is suspected that many of the jumbling was actually done by the Christians to preserve the artwork though. Many of the mosaics will be complete except for a fuzzy patch. The extent to which the tiles were rearranged varies and sometimes there will be a pair of legs sticking out nowhere.

Another cool mosaic we saw was the most famous, the Madaba map. It depicts very accurately Jerusalem and the holy land with each individual city mapped out in the area. It is thought that this was a destination along pilgrimage routes.





















If you are ever in Jordan, it's definitely worth it to stick around an extra day and check out the Mosaics. It has the added bonus of being almost entirely free of tourists. At each site we went to there were at tops only a dozen other people there with us.

tidbit: they call the police here falafel. we pretty much need to bring that across the ocean.

Slow week here, everything is winding down. I spent a lot of hours today registering pottery and washing pottery. That's alright with me though, I had my ipod to keep me company.

This Saturday we go to the Dead sea and go swimming. It's supposed to feel disgusting and hurt like a mother, so naturally, i'm pretty excited about it.

Everyone is in a flurry picking their classes for next year. I have mine all picked out but am contemplating dropping a few of the archaeology classes from my roster. As much fun as I'm having, I'm not sure i'm cut of for this as a career. We will see though.

More news soon.

A well deserved break

Today is our first day off in two weeks and I slept in until 10 and it was amazing. In Toronto/Milwaukee getting up at ten on a day when I have nothing to do is early. Here, it seems wonderfully late. Tomorrow our field trip is looking at the sites around Madaba so I don't have to be up and at em until 10 as well. Good stuff.

A friend and I decided to take our day off and take a leisurely stroll around town and look for scarves and jewlery. Unfortunately, we didn't take into account that it's Friday in a Muslim country and most stores wont be open for another hour, so we detoured here where I am sitting between two 14 year old boys playing counterstrike. Wait, am I back in Shorewood in Freshman year? Could be.

As far as news goes, there's not much. Last night we had a Jordan vs Canada soccer game with some of the guys who work with us on the site. As a girl I sat on the sidelines which made me miss home. Even with one of the Jordanians playing on our side we got our butts kicked. I think this has more to do with the majority of the Canadians being archaeologist from UofT then us being North Americans though. Still...we should have represented a little better. After the guys were done playing a couple of us girls stole the ball and played for 5 minutes or so and amazed the Jordanians. They couldn't believe that we were better than our male counterparts.

Getting to know the workers a little bit has been one of the best parts about this trip. We still get looks when we walk around town, so it's good to know locals and feel a little less like foreigners and tourists.

That's all for now

Happy 4th of July!

I apologize in advance from the brief update. I always feel rushed when I'm here at the internet cafe (The Iron Rod) and I have to get on to lab ion a few minutes.

We went to Petra and Wadi Rum (among other sites) this past weekend. It was our "break" but it was rush rush rush and it left me more exhausted then the rest of the week. It was definetly worth it though. I knew about Petra and had seen pictures, but I still didnt know exactly what to expect. It was amazing. And HUGE. We walked around all day and still didnt see everything that was excavated, and only 5% of the site is excavated.

What was more amazing to me then the huge carved rocks though was the scenery and the mountains. The religion of the Nabataens (who carved the stone and lived in the area) was dependent on these mountains. The mountains were Gods and Godesses, or vice versa. WHen you climb (or take a donkey) up to the monestary or the high place of sacrifice on the top of huge mountains you can see why they worshiped their surroundings. It is amazing.

I'm out of time now but i;; update again soon.
Love.