This is the head of an idol found in the Canaanite tomb. It is quite small, not much bigger than a thumb nail and was carved from stone. It was all we found of t he idol thought it seemed clear that there had once been more to it. It was very nicely done - good artist.

The Bone Table

From six AM to Noon we worked on the dig site and brought back what ever we dug up to what was called the pottery yard. The yard was more than pottery though most of it was for the massive amounts of pottery. In the afternoon we returned and cleaned what we had brought in, labeled it for inspection by the experts and then sorted it for later study by PhD. students.

I was assigned to the anthropology area which we all called "The Bone Table" and worked there. The cardboard boxes on the table is what we used to hand Carry the bones back from the dig site. The bone fragments you see in the boxes still need to be processed. Each box was labeled with information that stated where the items found, who dug them up and when. 

Then bones were processed at the table the tag stayed with them and the box went back to the dig site the next morning to be filled again.

Working On Old Bones

Some of the ancient bones we took out of the ground were broken but were easy to glue back together. After cleaning and treating this femur I glued it back together. The tube has  sand in it so that the bone can stand up during the drying time.

I had loads of fun working with the dig anthropologist on this dig. What an experience!

The dig anthropologist Neta is holding the jaw of an ancient Canaanite and the rest of the skull is in pieces in the blue tub. Over the course of a week we glued the whole thing back together with only a few pieces missing.

How exciting it is to hold that kind of history in your hands. What were her last words?

Here I am holding the skull in the last post before I cleaned it and treated it for preservation.

What a thrill it was to think about the individual and what kind of life he might have lived. He was about 35 years old when he died so had lived a full life for that time.

Another Skull

Here are two views of the same 3500 year old Canaanite skull that I excavated, cleaned up, and treated for preservation.

Notice what a great set of teeth this man had. All the the teeth found in that tomb had one thing in common - NO Cavities. Reason is there was no sugar in their diet.

Digging Up Bones

This is one of the many skulls I dug up in that Canaanite tomb. This one was in difficult condition and was the only body part of this particular person that we found. Often when a new body was brought down into the tomb the others were pushed aside in all directions. Lots of bones but only a few articulated.