It is Thursday night, and the dig has completely finished. This week has been relatively light in terms of work, because the director wanted to leave extra time for any unforeseen circumstances. We were told that Tuesday would be the last day of digging and that everything after that would be sweeping in preparation for photos on Wednesday and Thursday. On Monday, my square still had to lower a 2x2 meter probe by 50 centimeters, and we worked really hard getting it down to the level of the floor we had found. We got to sleep in an hour on Tuesday because there was very little digging left, but on Wednesday and today it was back to getting up at 4:30, because photos of the squares can only be taken before the sun comes up. However, we have finished before breakfast for the past two days, which has made all of the volunteers exceedingly happy.

This morning, we laid sand bags around the perimeter of the site to prevent erosion in winter, and we also put up a barbed-wire fence. Since we were finished by 7:30 this morning, I took off after breakfast with my Kiwi roommate (who had rented a car) and another one of the volunteers, and we headed for Bet Guvrin-Maresha national park, an extensive archaeological site with remains from the Iron II period through the Roman, Byzantine and Crusader periods. Some of the highlights of the visit were the underground columbaria, which were used to gather pigeons, a massive system of underground cisterns and "bell caves," a specific kind of cave created by quarrying limestone.
Tomorrow, we leave for our end-of-dig trip, with plenty of other sites on the itinerary. I doubt I will be able to post another entry after this one until I return to the U.S., but I will be sure to give a report about the final trip in the days to come.