Israel

Thursday, July 13

This morning had many “lasts”: getting up at 4:00 AM, walking the ½ mile up the hill, cleaning the mosaic, removing dirt, returning to the bus in 100 degree heat, and eating in the cafeteria. As difficult as this has been, it’s also sad to leave.

Before we packed up, we were able to visit one another’s areas to see what the other teams had done. First, here was my area at the Burnt Church.

The other group (the one I was with last week), excavated about seven feet of earth to find another possible columnated road. Remember how the decumanus maximus ran west/east? Well, this road may be a north/south connecting street. As you can see, they haven’t gotten to the bottom yet, so more will be uncovered in the next two weeks.

With my departure, I couldn’t help but think about the others who left before me. Here are the remains of the largest mausoleum on the site. It was elaborately carved, and the team hopes to reconstruct it some day. Yes, that's a sarcophagus on the upper left.

Then, an earthquake devastated the city in 749 CE. You can see how powerful it was with the discovery of these collapsed columns, all which fell in the same direction. After that destruction, Hippos was completely abandoned. This is why so much of it has been preserved.

I had the privilege to join this amazing team.

This was my last view as the bus pulled away. Farewell Hippos!

The final challenge is the journey home.

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