3rd Week Begins

With week three our team grew to include three new members, Arny, Jim, and Glen. We continued work today in squares B4, E4, and B0. It looked like it was going to be a day of removing destruction fill mainly, but..... As members from my square, B4, were working, they uncovered a golden amulet and several other pieces in the very corner of our room (which is called the south chamber). That's right, gold was found among the tons and tons of dirt and rocks we're in the process of removing! This is a piece of jewelry, probably worn around the neck with a necklace. It is tiny, about the size of a coin, and I find it hard to believe that we found it! What is more, there are half a dozon or so Greek letters imprinted on it. This is very significant from an archaeological perspective. It may tell us something about the church, about the people there, about the people of Hippos, about Hippos itself, about Byzantine Christianity, and\or the dating of that part of the church. Experts in Poland, the United States, and our own professors Schuler and Middendorf are working on it. I'll let you know if we learn more. Any information would be very useful, since there is very little information circulating around about any of those topics. We are slowly putting together pieces of an enormous puzzle of the history of faith beginning with Jesus, to the apostles, to Paul, to Roman Christianity, and eventually to our world today. We thank and remember the faithful who have gone before us, who have helped make sure that "my words will never pass away".