Flat Tires and the Desert

Greetings all. This is my first post from Jordan and I am sorry it has taken so long for me to get to it. The town of Azraq where we are staying DOES have internet...but it is extremely slow - and we have been very busy since we started digging, so this is the first chance I have had to write in the blog and update you all. I am sorry that I don't have any pictures to upload yet - but hopefully soon.

I am writing this post from the comfort of the CBRL (British Research Institute) in Amman. We are here today (Friday) to do some supplies shopping and bring some project members to the airport. Presently the noon call to prayer is happening - there is a mosque right beside the CBRL and it is very loud.

The first week of excavations have gone well. I have finally finished setting up the excavation grid and establishing benchmarks and reference points. It has been very hot (this morning it was 37 degrees!!! and no wind)...but I have been adapting well.

Our living accomodations are great - we have rented a new house that was just built in Azraq (pictures to come later) and I even have my own room. We also have a cook that is doing all the cooking so its pretty comfortable. The only thing we are missing are some proper couches and chairs...so we are going "Jordan Style" and have put mattresses around a room and we recline on those. Its pretty comfortable...but sometimes getting up is a bit tough after a hard days work.

So - about the flat tires. Over the past week I have had to change 3 flat tires on various vehicles we are using. The most difficult one was when we tried to go out into the middle of the desert (ok, maybe not the middle...but you get the idea) to find a remote archaeological site. Needless to say - we never got to it, we turned around since we had used up our last spare tire. So far no keys have been lost (some of you will get that joke).

Since we have just started excavating, I don't have anything new to report on that front. We begin in ernest on Saturday - so I should have something to say in a few days. First observations of the site is that its pretty amazing the amount of lithics that are scattered all over the place....I mean literally hundreds of thousands of them.

Upon arrival in Amman last Saturday night I preceded to Madaba to pick up some of my equipment that was in storage. I was able to track down my old friend Mashur and he was totally suprised to see me in Jordan...he had no idea that I was coming and was very happy to see me.

Everyone on the project is very nice and we are all getting along quite well. Last night we had a bit of a "party" and sat around exchanging stories. Good fun. I am very tired - getting up at 4am every day and then driving 45 minutes to site is exhausting. I am also disappointed that I have been unable to get any aerial photographs as the wind has not been strong enough - which is a complete suprise. Mother Nature is having a good laugh at my expense.

Have to go shopping in Amman now (allways an adventure) - I'll update with some photos in the near future.

Next Stop - Amman, Jordan

Well everyone - its just about that time. As my daughter puts it - "only one more sleep to go"! It has been frantic couple of weeks in getting ready to hit the field - but I think I have remembered everything. Today I did some last minute shopping - in particular, shopping for those items I just can't do without in the field - they are (in no particular order):

- A small bottle of Clamato Juice (for those of you non-Canadian readers out there, this is a drink that consists of tomato and clam juice mixed together). This stuff is used for making "Caesars". Its a drink that you can add either the traditional Vodka - or Gin (for you Brits out there), then you can customize it with Tabasco and other "fixin's".

- Jamaican Jerk Spice. Jordanian fare tends to be rather bland and not very exciting in terms of spice, so I have found that from time to time, preparing a special dish of spicy Caribbean food can have a very postive impact on team morale.

- Instant Oatmeal. Many of you may be surprised that this item is on the list - BUT - at 4:15 in the morning the last thing you want to be doing is cooking up a breakfast - you are on autopilot, so I find that a quick bowl of instant oatmeal is just enough food to get me through to what we call "2nd Breakfast" at 9am on site. 2nd Breakfast can be many different things depending on the project...only time will tell what we'll be eating out in the desert - but I'll be sure to keep you informed.

- Sunblock. Ok, probably an obvious item - but you can't take just ANY sunblock, it has to be a "non-greasy" type....and waterproof. I have found that the cheaper brands of sunblock aren't very good, so I go with Coppertone SPF 50......basically, no tan..but this isn't a vacation folks!

Last but not least is the Marshalltown Trowel 45-5. This is the basic tool of the archaeologist. There are many rules in archaeology and one of them is "Thou Shalt Not Use Any Other Trowel Than A Marshalltown". Archaeologists from the UK disagree with this vehemently (Marshalltown Trowels are made in the USA) and it provides endless debate while on the field. My trowel has been with me ever since my first field school in 1988 back on the Greek island of Lesbos (that's right, I was a Lesbian for a couple of months back in college!!!) - ever since, I have taken it on every project I have ever worked on - I have misplaced it sometimes and even had people hide it from me (a very nerve wracking event) - but it allways turns up. Never mess with an archaeologist's trowel - you are just asking for trouble.

I know this has been a rather trivial post and I haven't really said anything useful - but to be quite honest, I am exhausted and just want to get on the plane at this point. So I must say goodbye for now and I will next post from the beautiful Jordanian oasis town of Azraq early next week.

Indiana Jones Almost Here

I thought some of you might get a kick out of this. Remember - "X, never - ever marks the spot"!!

A Long Time Ago

Scan11237
Originally uploaded by AndrewJGraham

I came across this image and I thought it was interesting enough that I would share it with everyone. What is so neat about this image is that it is a scan of my "One Day Travelcard" of my first visit to London, way back on May 25th, 1988, which of course is EXACTLY 20 years ago. Some of you may know that I have the habit of collecting the oddest of things - old ticket stubs being one of them. The only reason this image is scanned is because I have been on a digital archiving kick at home - and this happened to be something that I kept from that first European adventure so long ago. Its hard to believe that it was 20 years ago....sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and other times it feels like a lifetime ago.

Just for kicks I looked up online what a "One Day Travelcard" costs today - and its a whopping 6.7 British Pounds Sterling. So, simple math means that the cost has gone up 4.7 Pounds in 20 years. BUT, we should figure out what that is in Canadian $ taking into account the historical exchange rates. God bless the internet, its easy to do. The exchange rate for May 25th, 1988 was 2.3179 CDN$ to 1 Pound - so, the Travelcard cost me exactly $4.62 CDN back in the day. If I buy one today - the current exchange rate is 1.9503, so that means it will cost me $13.06 CDN. Bottom line = I will not be buying a "One Day Travelcard" but instead will buy a nice expensive airport beer!!!! Of course, as my friend Luke has pointed out - I am not taking into account the inflation rate. If I did, it would look a whole lot better - but, then - who cares about inflation anyways!

Jordan Desert Castles - Qasr al-Mushatta

While not exactly on the Desert Castle "loop" (the site is located approximately 30km south of Amman - just beside the Airport), Qasr al-Mushatta is was perhaps one of the most beautiful in terms of architectural style and decoration. This was one of the largest Umayyad palaces constructed in Jordan and as you can see from the plan - rather symmetrical. Construction on the palace began around 743 CE by Walid II. Even though the palace was never completed, it was impressive nevertheless. There are a total of 25 semi-circular towers built into the Palace enclosure. Much of the surrounding facade was built of fired bricks that have a definate "orange" colour to them - making the whole structure stand out against the desert landscape.

Looking at these pictures you can get a sense of what travellers (people like Gertrude Bell) saw at the site back in the 18th 19th C. when visiting the site. Unfortunately if you visit the site today you won't see the beautiful carvings as most of the more ornate and preserved ones were sent to Berlin at the turn of the century - a gift from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid to Kaiser Wilhelm. While I have actually never been to Mushatta, I have had the opportunity to see the carvings in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The Germans should be commended in how they have presented these remains in a Museum setting - you can certainly appreceiate their beauty, however - your sense of scale is distorted since they have been taken out of their original context. I don't want to engage in the debate regarding the exporting of antiquities and their return to countries of origin - many of you have varied opinions on this subject and its a rather sensitive one. The Mushatta carvings are but one example of this phenomenon - others (like the Eligin Marbles) are equally complex and sensitive situations. Nuff said!

Since this is a site I have never been to I hope I get a chance to see it in a few weeks.

Bored? Try This Game

Ok, so I came across this little game widget on National Geographic's web page and thought that I would share it with you all. Those of you who know me, know how obsessive I can be when it comes to maps (just ask any of my students!). Anyways - I thought this little game was fun. Hope you enjoy it.

National Geographic has lots of different widgets on their site for inclusion into websites and blogs. I think I will add a few more as I go along. I think you need Flash installed on your computer in order to see these widgets....so if you can't see anything below it means that you don't have Flash installed...you can get it from Macromedia here.

Intermisso - Essential Reading

Ok, well, I thought I would take a break and let you all know what book I am going to be reading while I am away in Jordan. Even though we work 6 days a week when we are in the field, there is plenty of opportunity to do some pleasure reading. Usually everyone will bring one book and leave it behind to add to the project "library" for future seasons. So - in this spirit, here is the book that I am going to bring and donate. I found out about it from a friend who works down in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations at UofT St. George campus (thanks J.). Since I haven't read it yet - I thought I would just quote what the Publishers Weekly (courtesy of Amazon.ca) has to say about it:

"International bestseller Navarro (The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud) wades back into the religious artifact suspense pond, but this time she's pretty much dead in the water with too many unpleasant characters, repetitive exposition, a plodding plot and flat unimaginative prose (perhaps the fault of the translator?). In Iraq, shortly before the current war, Iraqi archeologist Clara Tannenberg announces an incredible find: two cuneiform clay tablets that refer to another set of tablets that record the biblical patriarch Abraham's story of the creation of the earth. The twist is that this clay bible with Abraham's narrative was written a thousand years before the papyrus version we know today. This discovery, one character asserts, will "change history, with repercussions in religion and even politics." How this will happen and what the repercussions will be are never really explained, as a group of off-the-shelf evil Nazis vie with C lara's thuggish grandfather and a few other interested parties to find, seize, steal or sell the clay tablets."

I don't know what else to add - other than I am looking forward to reading this book - I mean its got all the cliches associated with archaeology - the bible, tablets and even the vile Nazi's (for another example of Nazi's and archaeology see Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark) - how could it be bad? If only our own work at Kharaneh would have similar "repercussions" (sigh). I have also been busy copying DVD's onto my PSP for viewing pleasure (especially on the long plane rides to and from Jordan). I have been fortunate to be able to get my hand on the first 7 episodes of "The Tudors" and look forward to watching Henry.....well.......be Henry! Its apparently good to be the king!

Ok - enough levity. I will return with a new post in due course on another "desert castle" of Jordan - but which one exactly I will leave as a suprise. 11 days until I depart - but who's counting.

Jordan Desert Castles - Qasr al-Hallabat

The picture to the left was taken by Francesca Radcliffe who has done a lot of aerial photography in Jordan alongside David Kennedy. I know that most of you won't know who these people are - but since I am using their photo, I figure I should at least give them credit for the work they have done.

Ok, so back to Qasr al-Hallabat. I chose to lead off with this picture because it gives you a good idea of the scale and shape of this castle. As you can see, there have been significant reconstruction efforts on the go (the crane to the left of the structure is a dead give away. I don't know when this picture was taken, but it must be fairly recent as my own recollections of Hallabat back in 2000 was that the restoration hadn't really begun. Checking with Radcliffe's website (http://www.francesca-radcliffe.com/jordan.htm) it seems as if this picture dates to October 2006, so that confirms my theory.

Just like many of the other "castles" in the area - this site has a fairly long history dating back to the Nabatean period. The shape of the "castle" (with four very pronounced corner towers) is attributable to the Romans. Again, another fort along the eastern fronteir of the Roman Empire. It was originally constructed in the 2nd C. AD. during the reign of Caracalla (if you get a chance - visit his bath complex in Rome - pretty impressive) to guard the Via Nova Traiana - the road that connected Damascus and Aqaba.

After the so-called "fall" of the Roman Empire, it seems that the fort was refurbished by the Byzantines in the 5th/6th C. and functioned as a monestary - eventually abandoning it around 614. Once again - along comes the Umayyad Caliphs who essentially "pimp" the place up to function as another one of their "pleasure palaces". They added frescoes (only the plaster backing of these remains in fragments on the walls), mosaics, friezes, etc. The "bling" may be gone, but you can still get a sense of just how impressive the Umayyad Caliphs could be in terms of interior decorating. In fact, it gives me an idea for a new TV show on HGTV - "Interior Decorating, Ancient World Style"....think it would fly?

Jordan Desert Castles - Qasr al-Azraq

This castle is located in the town where we will be staying for the summer. Azraq is the only permanent source of water in this part of Jordan (the oasis that used to be here is being reclaimed - i'll report more on that later in the summer), and as such - has had a human presence (on and off) for at least the past 20,000 years or so - perhaps longer...but lets not get into that. Anyways - the castle located here was first built by the Romans (Bloody Romans!) back in the 4th C. - shortly after 300 AD. Inscriptions found at the castle dedicate its construction to the Emperors Diocletian and Maximilian. This outpost of Roman power in the eastern desert was about as far from Rome as you could get - it sat on the very edge (or Limes if you want to invoke your Latin) of the Roman Empire.

The present state of the castle was a result of the rebuilding efforts of the Ayyubids around 1230 AD. Perhaps the most famous person to inhabit the walls of Qasr al-Azraq was none other than T.E. Lawrence himself. Many of you may know him as "Lawrence of Arabia" - a very controversial figure in the history and politics of the Middle East in the early 20th C. He used this castle as a base of operations during the so-called Arab Revolt of 1917. I have visited this site before (back in 2000 with my wife, Tara) and had my picture taken in "Lawrences' Room" - his office if you will. I can just imagine the things that went on there...incredible.

The castle itself has many interesting features, but perhaps the most interesting (for me at least) was the HUGE (it weighs over 3 tons!) stone door that leads into the castle. It still swings on its original stone pivots and you can actually move it yourself. Another item of interest is the ruins of a small mosque in the central courtyard - clearly it was a mosque with its mirhab, but apparently it was originally a Byzantine church. I'll certainly be paying Qasr al-Azraq a visit since we will be living within walking distance of the site, so stay tuned for more from Azraq (GF109.3).