My Pilgrimage: June 15

I found a coin!  Hold on, let me go back and tell this story right.

Normal day: Morning Prayer at 5:15, leave hotel 5:30, breakfast 6:00, digging at 6:30.  I had to finish the area I was working on, which took me almost until second breakfast (10:00).  I was scared that they were going to tell me to dig down “10 more centimeters,” but instead the lead archeologist came up to me and said, “I have good news!  I am going to move you to the east (where someone else was digging but was out sick today).  This is good news?”  Of course I beamed and said, “YES!”

So the new area was the top layer of the dig, so a lot of pottery shards.  My first “big” find was a pottery handle, about the size of two full fingers (someone else took pictures all day so I have to add them later).  Then, just before second breakfast, I found a tiny piece of green glass.  It was very small, nearly irrelevant, but at that point I was taking anything I could get.

10:30 we got back to work.  About half an hour later, I was sifting through some dirt, and something with a green tint stood out.  I picked it out, and there was no doubt: a coin!  It didn’t look like much, smaller than a pinkie fingerprint, mostly rusted over, some green showing on the edges, but it was definitely a coin.  I did my coin dance, they took measurements and pictures, I was happy, and I got back to work. 

It was getting very hot, and we were looking forward to finishing our last full day.  There were some guys going around the site, taking measurements and ground-penetrating radar readings.  One guy was setting up to do an interview with the lead archeologist.  I was working through some of the dirt, and…what is this…more green?!?!  Yes!  I found a second coin!  It was actually in worse shape than the first, but again no doubt about it.  Just then, the guy filming the interview called for quiet, so we had to do an almost comical silent measurement of the second coin.  I was happy, and within thirty minutes the bell rang for Mass.

We have a busy late afternoon/night.  Final class on the Gospel of Matthew at 5:00, Evening Prayer at 6:30, dinner at 7:00.  Somewhere in there, I have to pack since we’re heading to Jerusalem after digging in the morning, and we all have to make our bag lunches for the bus trip.  Guess I should get started on that!