The 2014 Omrit Excavation season has officially come to a close. I have really enjoyed my first season at Omrit. I learned a lot, and I leave with many wonderful memories. The past four weeks have gone by so quickly. My square, G16, was originally 5 x 10 meters. The first day at the site, we raked up shrubs and giant invasive onions. That same first day we started picking and hoeing; activities that are essential to archaeological excavations. We even collected a few pieces of pottery. Little did I know that we would eventually collect over 300 buckets of artifacts: pottery, stone, brick, metal, and coins…just to name a few.
As we discovered small pieces of critical and interesting artifacts in some areas, we began sifting. My square’s supervisor, Amy, created a daily rotation of hoeing, picking, and sifting. There were a total of five people in the square including Amy. Tom, another square member, stayed in one area of the square by himself during the season, so he was not part of the rotation. The rotation consisted of Erin, Rich, and me.

G16 after Week 1

G16 after Week 3

After the first day we knew that there was a wall in G16, but we did not know how long the wall was. As the weeks continued and we started opening and closing numerous loci we discovered lots of tumble (basalt and limestone), which we then carefully removed. We found more walls that were adjacent and parallel to the first wall we discovered.

A beautiful sunrise, seen from Omrit

During the last few days the directors wanted us to wall chase in the northern most locus; however, given the limited amount of time and the depth we had to dig down to, in order to find the possible wall from a neighboring square excavated the previous season, we were unable to find the wall. Instead, we abandoned the locus and focused on the southern half of G16. In the southern half there were limestone walls, built in various fashions such as header-stretcher and layers of cut stones.

Taking final photos

G16 after Week 4

G16 after Week 4

On June 27th we took our final pictures. The other squares took their pictures early in the morning; however, we took our pictures at dusk. It is essential for final pictures that there are no shadows. Rather than hurrying to beat the sun, we were hurrying to still have sun. We were able to finish our final photos successfully.
I am really grateful for this opportunity. This was my first experience in archaeology, and I truly had a great time.
-Rebecca Williams ’17