Talking about the Weather

On site today we talked about the weather a bit. As has been happening the last couple of days we have woken up to cool, rainy and foggy Amman. Drive into the rift valley we come out into sunshine and have to strip off our extra layers of clothes as soon as we get off the bus. So we started in the sunshine, nice temperature. But the talk was about the weather because it was forcast that an artic depression would arrive from the Mediterranean in the afternoon. The Jordan Times had headlines today about the sudden plunge in temperature and snow showers tonight through to Friday. This is how a conversation goes in the context of the Jordan Valley. Nice day. Those dark clouds are building up over the Judean Hills. Can't see the Judean Hills anymore. Jericho has disappeared. The Dead Sea has gone too. That rain is coming this way pretty fast. Within a minute the wind direction changes and the temperature drops 10-15C and everyone rushes to put the layers on and unpack the rain gear. About 1.30pm the cell phone rings. It's the dig director. "Pack up quick, the Jordan River has disappeared in the rain. You've got 10 minutes!" And so it was. The rain arrived, the tools thrown on the ute and down to the bus with wet clothes. The bus trip back to the hotel took twice as long as normal with gridlock traffic even though we were about 3 hours before rush hour. When snow is forcast there seems to be a general panic in Amman. Sultan, our bus driver, who is very gentle, and can pass vehicles with 50mm to spare, we calculate this as we pass high sided trucks, had a run in with one car driver who cut him off as bus plus two cars tried to drive down the same lane at the same time. We all agreed that the Arabic words he shouted didn't really need translation. We got the drift.

The pictures: I have talked about this 3,000 year old foundation wall a few times now. Photo 1 - the wall all tidied up and brushed ready for its final diagnostic photo at 8.30am local time. Photo 2 - at 11.55am all gone forever. The official term is "deconstructed". Photo 3 - The walls new configuration. Photo 4 - Sometimes things are dug up that don't make sense because no one has a clue what they are. This is a solid piece of rock from about 2m down in the Iron Age 2 layer, as usual about 3,000 years old give or take. It takes two men to lift it. The hole that goes through it is cone shaped, wider at the top than the bottom. Perfectly round, smooth surface on the inside, with visible verticle tools marks. It has stumped the experts. It's not a door socket. I thought it could be a mould for ice cream cones. Helen says that's the best theory she has heard yet. Any ideas? Please don't mentioned ancient aliens.

By the way, New Zealand got headlines on the sports page of the Jordan Times today with its struggle to beat Scotland in the cricket world cup.

I have just attended a lecture on who the Pharoah of the Exodus story was. Thutmose IV. Fascinating use of Egyptian records and political landscapes to arrive at the conclusion. Tell you about it sometime.

Helen is well. She is looking forward to moving on with just over a week to go in Jordan. I could stay another 5 weeks, as long as I was digging. I have been battling the flu the last 2-3 days but hard work is keeping it at bay. Helen thinks I should take a day off but I think that if I do I might miss making a discovery. Anyway, the weather might help me out on the day off tomorrow.