Salvage Surveying

Dawn, Sean and I have spent most of our week mapping what's left of a building complex—possibly a second monastery—in the northwestern part of our site. Although the area has already been excavated, the previous team did not do a very good job of documenting the finds. All of the exciting objects are probably in a drawer somewhere, never again to see the light of day. However, we are doing what we can by shooting points along the still-visible walls. Unfortunately, the walls are now mostly globs of mud that have melted down in the sun, providing a perfect example of what happens when you don't properly backfill your site.



Although opinions differ about what should be done with archaeological sites after they have been fully excavated, our solution is to backfill. This prevents ancient buildings from falling prey to vandalism and brutal weather. It is sad to cover up what has been so carefully brought to light, but I think it's better than letting everything be battered by the elements.

There is some pretty interesting stuff in that complex, including a second church—there is another a short hike away from the manshubiya that we are currently excavating. That round shape you can make out in the sand is an apse.



Our site is huge, and there are obviously several more unexcavated buildings awaiting us beneath the sand. The churches, however, are very small, which leads me to wonder what kind of role they played in overall monastic life. What's the point of a meeting place that doesn't fit very many people? Are we dealing with two monasteries, as some people assume, or are we looking at a single community that happens to need multiple churches? It's interesting either way.

One of my favorite objects, which was unfortunately left exposed and is damaged as a result, is an ancient table. We thought about eating breakfast on it, but it's surrounded by sand and is a little uncomfortable.