DIRT!!!

Today I got into the dirt. It felt GREAT. We left for the site at about 8:30. By nine we were there and took a tour of the whole project. We entered the site and I was immediately in awe! It was beautiful. First of all, I should mention that Tell Hesban is still occupied by the Ajarmeh tribe. Not the tell, where most of us are working, but there is a village that immediately surrounds it. I am working basically IN the village. It's crazy! All sorts of goats... and human visitors, too. Wondering what's going on, wondering where we're from. Our field director, Ruba, had to shoo away some very curious villagers. We had a LOT of work to do today... after our site tour we went to Nabulsi, in the village, which is away from the site, and began clearing away trash, plants and other debris. It was a mess of Mamluk baby diapers... Abbasid cigarette packs... I am of course kidding, the Mamluk and Abbasid periods were much earlier :) Anyway, I worked my hiney off today and can't wait to do it again tomorrow. I love being in the dirt.
Here are some photos!
Oystein (Sten) LaBianca at the site with a map