The past two days have been very exciting. Yesterday we began to uncover the original Roman wall that runs along both sides of the street. Up to this point the majority of the wall has been from a later period. We can tell it is the Roman wall because the pavement touches it on either side of the street. It is also much more neat and aesthetically pleasing. We can make more progress in a shorter period of time now that we have clearly cut walls on the sides of the street. We have moved a huge amount of dirt in the past two days!

Today one of the guys working on our site found a bronze bracelet that is in one piece! It was very exciting. We also found a couple of jar handles that are in good condition. Our most exciting find today, though, was a bell-shaped water hole that is under the pavement of the street. It is extremely odd and interesting that it is underneath the street. My supervisor told me that people did not keep water in large pools but in holes so that it would not evaporate as quickly. Thus, the pavement would have provided a lid for the hole to slow evaporation. We are going to explore the hole more tomorrow. There might be something interesting inside!

Last night we listened to a lecture about the Sea of Galilee. We learned about the ports of all the different cities along the lake shore. There were many boats on the lake, one of which has actually been found, excavated, and preserved. The land around the lake was very fertile and many different kinds of fruit and other plants grown in this region (as there still are). Tiberias was the largest Roman city along the Sea of Galilee and had the biggest port. Capernaum also had a very large port, as did a couple of other cities. Archaeologists have been able to learn a lot about ships from this area from coins, historical accounts, and the excavation on the ancient boat found in the lake.

We continue to wash a lot of pottery in the afternoons. :) We are having a wonderful time and are excited about exploring our newfound hole tomorrow!