After emerging from inside the Western Wall, there was a real treat in store of us. We got on the big purple bus and got to go to a real archaeological dig site that was uncovering artifacts from the Temple Mount! The Muslims had bulldozed a section within the old city walls to build another mosque. It took 3 days before the Jews could get the demolition stopped. The Jewish people did discover where the remains were dumped and they immediately set up shop uncovering bits and pieces of 2000 + year old history. This project has been going on for several years now.We were trained on how to sift, wash, and sort our findings. Then before we could dump the rubble, a real archaeologist came to re-examine our finds. Sometimes we did pretty well, and other times, it was pitiful! Once we thought a hunk of asphalt was a bone! LOL. We looked for mosaic tiles, metal, glass, pottery, bone, and "miscellaneous stone".
Our group of 19 fearless workers found several small "finds" which we put in a special tray for all to see. Tim's mom, better known as Mom-Mom by her grandkids on the trip, made what they called a "significant find." They had to take her information because the piece will be in a museum someday. It was some sort of a sling-shot stone that was not
common in the area. They even put it in its own plastic baggie. Very cool. One of my artifacts made it to the special tray too. It wasn't that big a deal, but I found a mosaic floor tile. See the square chunk sitting on the tray? Yep, that's mine!!
It was a rainy, drizzly day, but we had a blast playing in water and mud for almost 3 hours! Some children never grow up!
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