A Tel of Two Cities

We had a second field trip this week to the Negev Desert.  Negev means "dry place" as well as "south."

Our first stop was to a Bedouin village where some women taught us how they weave.  This particular group sells their products to help pay for women to get educations.

Next we went to Tel Arad, which had the remains of a Canaanite city and an Israelite city.  One thing that the national parks do is reconstruct just enough of the walls to give you a sense of the towns.  They separate the added wall from the ancient with a thick layer of mortar.

Tel Advat was the southernmost part of our trip.  The Nabateans built a city here because it was on the Incense Route.  This place was fun to explore because some of the homes were build in caves.  My group was pretty spread out by this time, so the professors drafted some of the student to hide in the caves and scare people.

The last stop was the grave site of Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel back in  1948. But the reason we stopped here was for the view.  This area is called the Wilderness of Zin/Sin.

The Telltale Tel

A tel is a hill inside which is an ancient city.  A city built on top of a hill would get conquered and the new folks would build over the town, using existing walls.  This cycle repeats itself until the city is abandoned.  Then the structure is filled in by dust, mud and other sediments till someone digs it up.

Monday we went to the tel of Jericho, which is currently being excavated.  The tel has many layers, some say as many as 23.  One of the neat things archaeologists have discovered is a watch tower which dates from the Neolithic period (i.e. really old).

Then we went to see the remains of King Herod the Great's winter palace.  This guy was not so great because he killed a bunch of people in his paranoia.

Lastly, we went on a short hike on a ridge overlooking St. George Monastery. The structure is built onto the canyon walls.  The Greek Orthodox monastery was built here to commemorate Christ's 40 days in the wilderness.

Oddities

Here are some of the unusual thing's I've seen around Jerusalem:

  A hand shaped door knocker.

A container for blowing up suspicious items left on the streets (Hailee's pretty normal)

 

A pyramid of spices.

A watch clock.

Journey to the Center of the Center

To satiate our curiosity, the students of the Jerusalem Center are given a tour of the tunnels which run under the building.  These are used for maintenance of both water and electrical lines.  If there is a clogged drain or a short circuit, the problem can be fixed from below.  There is also a room where students have signed their names on the walls in chalk and permanent marker.  We added our names to the collection. (This was done with permission from the center).  If you ever make it to the Jerusalem Center, my name is in the corner, above a pipe, written in blue ink.

The Carol is a Lie!

Today we went on a field trip to different places overlooking Jerusalem.  We went to the Bethlehem overlook to the SW, the Haas Promenade to the South, 7 arches hotel to the SE, Augusta Victoria to the east, Hebrew University to the NE, and Nabi Samwil to the north.  In addition to looking into the city, many of the viewpoints allowed us to look out at the surrounding countryside.  This stretch of Israel is made up of rocky slopes.  So the Christmas hymn "Far, far away on Judea's plains" is false because there is no flat land to speak of.  We climbs up a rugged hill behind a monastery to get to the Bethlehem overlook.  As further proof, A shepherd with his flock walked by at one of our stops.

Fun Facts

Jerusalem is not so big.

The city has cats instead of squirrels.

 

There are islands in the middle of cross walks and you have to cross the street in halves.

Little tractors take goods into the Old City. These are also the size of the garbage trucks.

The Orthodox Catholics have Christmas in January.

Greetings Readers!

This blog is about my current adventure:  a study abroad at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. I will study here for the next 3 1/2 months with 82 other students.  The Jerusalem center draws students from all 3 BYU schools. (Check out the Jerusalem Center website: http://ce.byu.edu/jc/)  The center has restrictions on internet usage, so I might not be able to add photos to this blog.  I will, however, try to post entries on a regular basis.