I spent the last two weeks digging in the Jordan Valley. The difference in weather between there and where I live in the hill country is amazing. It is only about a 30 minute drive, but I went from wearing coats, hats, and gloves (and still being cold) to wearing short sleeves and developing a noticeable farmer’s tan.
This was my second season of excavations at ‘Auja. It is an Iron Age II (the period of the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah) city near the ‘Auja spring. Perhaps it guarded the access point to the water supply. When I excavated last year, it rained a lot, limiting what we were able to accomplish. This year, the weather cooperated, and we got a lot done.
The Daily Schedule
We stayed at a kibbutz at Fazael. It was only a step or two up from camping. We slept on mats on the floor of a large yurt. There were two other small structures – a bathroom and a kitchen. We cooked our own meals and ate outdoors.
We left for the site at 6:30 each morning. We worked until 9:00 and had a tea/coffee break. Then, we worked until 12:00 and had a lunch break. At 3:00 we left the site. Some days we went directly back to camp, but sometimes we went on a field trip, instead. Once we arrived back at the camp, we had a quick snack and then washed pottery.
Every dig has pottery washing, but I have never washed so much pottery in my life. I think that part of the reason was that we had a lot of pottery, and another reason was that only part of the team washed pottery. In the meanwhile, some team members cooked dinner and others read pottery. Those of us that washed pottery did so for 2–4 hours each day, washing from when we arrived back at camp until it was time to eat dinner. Dinner was supposed to be at 7:00 pm, but in reality, it generally ended up being at 8:30–9:00 pm.
After dinner, I usually went directly to bed, but some of the staff stayed up reading pottery until quite late at night. Some evenings, we had lectures. They took place in the yurt and were very casual, with people either sitting around in a circle or lounging on their mattresses. We propped up a mattress as the projector screen. One evening, I gave a lecture about Tel Shiloh.
Excavating at ‘Auja
We worked in three areas. On the lower slopes, in Area C, a team worked on excavating what seems to be a tower from the Middle Bronze Age (Canaanite period). Higher up the hill, in Area B2, a second team worked on uncovering a house built up against the city wall. I supervised Area B1, which was near the top of the hill. In past seasons, they uncovered an Israelite-style four-room house. Next to it there were some rooms that ran at a slightly different angle, which could be an indicator that they belonged to a different phase of occupation. My task was to excavate these rooms to learn more about them. I divided my team between three of the rooms.
The first room to yield anything interesting was the middle one, Room 2. Here, we found the remains of two tabuns (clay ovens). One was much smaller than the other. we joked that one was the oven and the other was the microwave, or that it was a kosher kitchen and one oven was for meat and the other for cheese. We also found a broken, but complete cooking pot sitting on the floor of the room.
In Room 3, we reached the floor level without finding anything particularly interesting. There was a little bit of broken pottery, but nothing of significance.
Things progressed more slowly in Room 1, but towards the end of the first week, we finally reached the floor level and discovered that this was a storage room. Here we found many broken, but complete ceramic vessels including storage jars, jugs, cooking pots, bowls, and juglets. We worked slowly and carefully to uncover the pottery without dislodging it so that we could get a good look at how the jars were situated in the room. Then, after getting a nice photo, we began to remove the pottery and discovered that there were more vessels under the ones that had initially been visible. Under one of the pots, we found a large grinding stone, which we decided to leave in place.
Meanwhile, more volunteers had arrived, so I opened two new rooms, Room 4, and Room 5. Room 4 was long and narrow, and it was not clear whether it was a room or an alleyway. We worked there for a couple of days, but didn’t learn anything new about the area. In Room 5, we tried to find the walls defining the area, but mostly only found tumbled rocks. We found two more tabuns in this area. Apparently, whoever lived here really liked to cook.
On the last few days of the excavation, I opened one more room, Room 6. Here, we made very little progress. We removed enough soil to define the boundaries of the room, and then, since we didn’t have time to finish it, we left it for another dig season.
The Other Areas
Meanwhile, in Area C (the Middle Bronze Age tower), the excavators were able to clarify the entrance to the structure. They uncovered a stone pavement leading down into the structure from the upper side.
The team working in Area B2, below my area, uncovered an Israelite-style four-room house, very similar to the one in Area B1. In the back room, which is generally the store-room in this style house, they found many ceramic vessels, some broken but complete, and some unbroken. My pottery-covered floor in Room 1 paled in comparison with this room. On the last few days of excavation, all of the attention focussed on this area, and they were able to remove a large portion of the vessels. Some will be taken to the lab for restoration. Others will be sent for surface residue analysis to determine what the vessel contained.
Finishing Up
Tuesday of Week 2 was the last full dig day. On Wednesday, we swept the areas to prepare them for photography, and then we flew a drone to take photos. Some of the team members stayed at the camp to wash the remaining pottery.
On Thursday, a small team went to the site to do some conservation, but I stayed at the camp with a few others to finish pottery reading. In order to speed things up, some of us worked ahead by counting the pottery, separating out the diagnostic sherds, and writing the registration info on the rims. When we were finished with that, we sped up the reading by spreading out two batches of pottery at a time. While the registrar recorded one, we got the next one ready. While she moved on to the second batch, we bagged up the first one and spread out a third batch. We finished around 2:00. Then, we loaded multiple vehicles with tools and boxes of finds and headed to Ariel University, where everything is stored.
I took passengers rather than dig supplies and dropped them off at their respective homes before catching up with the others at the University. There, I helped unload and carry boxes and supplies. While in Ariel, I also managed to meet up with several people that I needed to connect with and to run a load of laundry at the university laundry facilities. I need my dig clothes to be clean and ready, because I’m joining another excavation next week.
Extra Photos
Abigail's Archaeological Adventures 
5 responses to “Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa”
Wow, that is roughing it! Loved the view from your “bathroom.” Thanks for sharing the neat pictures of your adventure in excavating!
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In the first photo, below the title and the words that read: “Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa”, you see what looks like a stone ball, what is it?
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It is the side of a small round juglet that was only partially excavated at that point.
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Thank you very much for your response!!
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[…] Our first stop was at Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa in the Jordan Valley. I was familiar with the site, since I have excavated there twice, but I enjoyed the tour regardless. There is a steep hike up to the site, but thanks to the morning rain and the cooler weather, it was quite pleasant. You can read about my past adventures at Khirbet ‘Auja here, here, and here. […]
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