First Christian Church of Petra

Today is Sunday and I wanted to share this photo of me in the pulpit of the First Christian Church of Petra built about 500 AD. In its day it was an awesome building.

Caged Art

The inside of this cave was an arched room that had been carefully carved out and then heavily plastered. On the plaster they painted pictures but now the pictures are almost gone, faded and covered with smoke. Tourist over the years chipped small pieces off and took them away. Now the steal cage prevents us from going in and we had to take our pictures through the cage.

If you look closely on the outside walls appears to be stone work but it too is plastered and then shaped and painted to look like a stone wall.  

Eudora's Temple

People and especially archaeologist fall in love with Petra!

Field Supervisor Eudora Struble pointing to the 

Temple of the Winged Lions

Eudora the field supervisor for the 2002 Temple of the Winged Lions dig was no different. It was her third season digging at this site and she love it so much she referred to it as "Her Temple."

This picture was taken on the first day of the dig when she led us on a hike through Petra and here we stopped an she pointed out the site where we would be working for the next six weeks. By the end of those six weeks we all thought of it as our temple. The place gets into your blood and it owns you. I love it and I long to go back again and again.

Digging Small Bones

In this picture I am excavating the bones of an infant who died in the363 earthquake that leveled the temple.
The bones were very delicate so may main tools reflected their condition. I am holding a small paint brush and by the small blue container there is a wood pick. The TP in the goofa was used to wrap the small bones for transport to our lab..

This is how they looked after I moved some more dirt and rocks. The tools on the right are a dental pick and a very small trowel designed for this kind of work. The bones once belonged to a six month old girl.

I love digging in the dirt in the Holy Land.

Remembering Brian Hesse

The gentleman in this picture is Brian Hesse 1944-2011. He was the professor of Jewish studies, anthropology and ancient Mediterranean studies at Pennsylvania State University. In the July/August issue of Biblical Archaeology Review was the report of  his death.

Professor Hesse headed the "Fauna Crew" on my Ashkelon dig in 1999 and I learned a lot from him. He was an expert in zooarchaeology of the Lavant. He taught us about the animal bones we found on the dig site. He was very friendly and easy to talk with. May he rest in peace.

Zincirli stone

This picture taken by my good friend Eudora Struble ABD was found on her dig at Zincirli Turkey. I just saw another picture of the eighth century BC funerary stone of Kuttamuwa, in the July/August copy of Bibical Archaeology Review. It has a well preserved thirteen line inscription stating that his soul would live forever in that stone monument.

Aaron's Tomb

Aaron's Tomb from a distance

Aaron was the brother of Moses and tradition tells us that the people of Israel camped here on the way to the Holy Land. The tradition of the Jews, Christians and Islam states that Aaron the first High Priest of Israel died here in the place that was later to be called Petra. He was buried on the highest peak and people from all three religions make the long climb to the top to visit the tomb. I did that in 1999 on my first visit. Perhaps you can make out the little white dot on the top of that mountain.

Aaron's Tomb up close

So you have an eye strain finding it. Here is my up close picture from 1999.