by John Strong July 8, 2011 Ah, the feel of power! In some of my earlier posts, I talked about archaeology as the careful practice of destruction. Thus, for someone like me, who as a kid got some sort of basic satisfaction with tearing stuff up (just ask my mother!), archaeology is a pretty good job fit. And, no more satisfying does it get than when you take down the … [Read more...] about Pride Goes Before a Fall
by John Strong July 7, 2011 I’m back to talking about pottery again—woo-hoo! My last entry was about collecting bits of rims and bases. Now, I want to talk about processing these rims and bases. First, lowly supervisors, such as myself, create a pottery bucket every time they want to control the data coming out of a particular piece of soil, a specific place in the … [Read more...] about Tel-tale Two: Bucket Wars and Classic Rock
by John Strong July 5, 2011 Pottery is the archaeologist’s lifeblood, it would seem. And it is not because archaeologists want whole jars or museum pieces, though those are always welcome. Archaeologists want pieces of pottery, because the right sherd of pottery can give an absolute date to a wall, a surface, and, once relationships are properly understood, an entire … [Read more...] about Tel-tale Pottery Piles
by John Strong June 26, 2011 I’m back in Jerusalem this weekend for a little touring. My main objective, besides lingering at breakfast over too much coffee and an extra roll with jam and butter, is to visit the Temple Mount. This place still fascinates me, and I am continually drawn there. First, a few definitions. The Temple Mount is the platform on which Herod’s … [Read more...] about Watching My Step on Temple Mount
by John Strong June 23, 2011 To repeat myself from my last entry, archaeology is the careful practice of destruction. Today, it is not the removal of an ancient wall that we are focused on, but rather the removal of an impressive olive oil production installation. The reader may recall from my previous entry that the “pillar” (L52026, according to our records) was first … [Read more...] about Archaeologists vs. 2,000-lb Stone