This spring we continued our excavation on a tell located between Efqa springs and the temple of Baal Hamoun and the Bell Temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria. Because of the political situation in Syria this year, the time spent excavating was reduced to a month. Because of this, we were only able to reach a depth of 1.5 meters below the ground surface in each of our test units. Unfortunately, these depths were too shallow to reach the large architectural stone blocks (indicators of a monumental structure of some kind) that we have uncovered in previous field seasons elsewhere on the tell. We did find nine decorated tesserae, which in ancient Palmyra were used as invitations of sorts to special ceremonies in Palmyrene temples. Read here for more information about this particular excavation.
Our awesome crew
All of the archaeology girls and Rania's little boy
Bruce and me in our trench
Shot of myself with Palmyra and the oasis in the background
Qasr al-Sharki
Damascus
We were also able to spend some time in Damascus, one of my favorite cities. The Old City in particular is so beautiful and charming.
A lovely little side street at night
The gardens at the Azem Palace
A ceiling of a caravanserai in the Old City
The Hejaz Train Depot in Damascus
The Umayyad Mosque
It's so fun to see so many photos from places I know I'll never get to see personally. They're beautiful shots! I hope you post more! :)
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