Living Kristina’s Dream* (and My Nightmare): Interim Site Supervisor for the Day
The excitement here never seems to stop. Darryl and I arrived back at Kibbutz En Gev mid-morning on Tuesday, July 18, after getting all the students through security, check-in, and passport control at Ben Gurion Airport. We stumbled through the day in a sleep-deprived state but both showed up at the parking lot Wednesday morning at 4:45 am. I wouldn’t say we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed , but we made it up the hill. Things got crazy just before breakfast, when Mark slipped while climbing out of square F4, sprained his ankle, bruised his tail bone, and broke the screen on our cell phone (which he wears on the back of his belt}. Since no one saw him fall, I was quite terrified when he was flat on his back on the stone floor and passed out on me. Itimar, the member of the Haifa team who runs logistics for all teams, driving back and for to the site with food and water for everyone, drove the 2 of us down the mountain and to the local hospital emergency room. Three x-rays, one blood test, a cardiogram, two doctor consultations, and 800-plus shekels later, we were on our way back to En Gev, arriving in time for lunch and sympathy from the rest of our group and others in the dining hall.
There was no way Mark was going up to Hippos the next day, so I was put in charge of this group of independent-minded, wacko adults (what else can one say about people who opt to stay when the students are evacuated?). Eat your heart out, Kristina! Mark went over all the details of his list, much the same as I do when he goes to the grocery store back home. Most of it seemed quite straight-forward. Square F3: stop work after cleaning plaster floor in room. Square D4: continue down. Squares C/D2 (the mosaic floor): cleaning and fixing edges. B2: refill tomb; replace covering stones. Then there was C4 . . .
But let’s start with F3. Bill and Jim R worked on cleaning and sweeping the plaster floor. When they declared to me they were done, I looked in and thought, "I’ll bet their wives do the same thing I do after Mark has ‘wiped’ the counter top—they go back and do it over." I said nothing and prepared to photograph the area when Glenn, the model of patience and careful work, came over and said, "Do you think that’s good enough?" He and I worked another hour or more and got it up to snuff.
"Continuing down" in D4 was about the only smooth operation of the day. As one volunteer from the Haifa and Polish teams after another abandoned work on the mosaic floor, and other squares struggled to get buckets emptied, Irene, who took over the conversation work from Nancy, left the mosaics to help with some of the heavy lifting. I couldn’t do a thing to help her—I’m totally clueless about the conservation work on mosaics! I’ve mostly done the most unskilled of all the unskilled labor on this job (emptying buckets)! No doubt the cleaning and fixing edges of mosaics will continue up to the last minute of the last day of the last week.
"B2: refill tomb, replace covering stones" should have been a piece of cake–and would have been if the Interim Site Supervisor had used her brain! Like most mornings, it started out cloudy and comfortable ("cool" would be an exaggeration). Did I assign some people to do this simple task before breakfast, under these ideal conditions? Of course not! I waited until after breakfast, when the area was in complete, full sun! Poor Bill and Linda dutifully filled in the tomb, and Glenn, Mr. Tomb himself, supervised the replacement of the covering stones on the sarcophagus.
The instructions for square C4 read "remove Wall 592 (Shepherd’s wall) from south end of the square just past Wall 1201 — do not damage wall of masonry building below it." I was about as clueless interpreting these instructions as Mark would be reading a recipe to make carmelized onions. Not to worry, I thought, once I see the square and talk it over with veteran volunteer Marc Hequet, all will be clear. And I can always phone Mark, since we now both have cell phones (his still rings and can make calls; we just can’t access the voice mail, the address book, etc, because the screen is smashed). Needless to say, all was not clear to Marc H or me, even after a couple of phone calls back and forth. We all agreed this was job to postpone until next week; instead, we were given the task of opening a new square, F2. Now, I may be a complete novice at this archaeology work, but I have figured out this much: Opening a new square is work given to the newest, greenest of volunteers because they can do the least amount of damage to anything of import. It was the right decision!
Alas, I may actually have an opportunity to redeem myself on Sunday. Mark has been plagued since Thursday night with an intestinal bug that sends him to the WC every 5 to 10 minutes. It’s Saturday afternoon, and while he’s feeling a bit better, the trips to the WC continue. Looks like I’ll be site supervisor on Sunday! Kristina, how I wish you were here!
*Kristina is a student volunteer who’s dreamed of being an archaeologist since she was a child.
There was no way Mark was going up to Hippos the next day, so I was put in charge of this group of independent-minded, wacko adults (what else can one say about people who opt to stay when the students are evacuated?). Eat your heart out, Kristina! Mark went over all the details of his list, much the same as I do when he goes to the grocery store back home. Most of it seemed quite straight-forward. Square F3: stop work after cleaning plaster floor in room. Square D4: continue down. Squares C/D2 (the mosaic floor): cleaning and fixing edges. B2: refill tomb; replace covering stones. Then there was C4 . . .
But let’s start with F3. Bill and Jim R worked on cleaning and sweeping the plaster floor. When they declared to me they were done, I looked in and thought, "I’ll bet their wives do the same thing I do after Mark has ‘wiped’ the counter top—they go back and do it over." I said nothing and prepared to photograph the area when Glenn, the model of patience and careful work, came over and said, "Do you think that’s good enough?" He and I worked another hour or more and got it up to snuff.
"Continuing down" in D4 was about the only smooth operation of the day. As one volunteer from the Haifa and Polish teams after another abandoned work on the mosaic floor, and other squares struggled to get buckets emptied, Irene, who took over the conversation work from Nancy, left the mosaics to help with some of the heavy lifting. I couldn’t do a thing to help her—I’m totally clueless about the conservation work on mosaics! I’ve mostly done the most unskilled of all the unskilled labor on this job (emptying buckets)! No doubt the cleaning and fixing edges of mosaics will continue up to the last minute of the last day of the last week.
"B2: refill tomb, replace covering stones" should have been a piece of cake–and would have been if the Interim Site Supervisor had used her brain! Like most mornings, it started out cloudy and comfortable ("cool" would be an exaggeration). Did I assign some people to do this simple task before breakfast, under these ideal conditions? Of course not! I waited until after breakfast, when the area was in complete, full sun! Poor Bill and Linda dutifully filled in the tomb, and Glenn, Mr. Tomb himself, supervised the replacement of the covering stones on the sarcophagus.
The instructions for square C4 read "remove Wall 592 (Shepherd’s wall) from south end of the square just past Wall 1201 — do not damage wall of masonry building below it." I was about as clueless interpreting these instructions as Mark would be reading a recipe to make carmelized onions. Not to worry, I thought, once I see the square and talk it over with veteran volunteer Marc Hequet, all will be clear. And I can always phone Mark, since we now both have cell phones (his still rings and can make calls; we just can’t access the voice mail, the address book, etc, because the screen is smashed). Needless to say, all was not clear to Marc H or me, even after a couple of phone calls back and forth. We all agreed this was job to postpone until next week; instead, we were given the task of opening a new square, F2. Now, I may be a complete novice at this archaeology work, but I have figured out this much: Opening a new square is work given to the newest, greenest of volunteers because they can do the least amount of damage to anything of import. It was the right decision!
Alas, I may actually have an opportunity to redeem myself on Sunday. Mark has been plagued since Thursday night with an intestinal bug that sends him to the WC every 5 to 10 minutes. It’s Saturday afternoon, and while he’s feeling a bit better, the trips to the WC continue. Looks like I’ll be site supervisor on Sunday! Kristina, how I wish you were here!
*Kristina is a student volunteer who’s dreamed of being an archaeologist since she was a child.
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