Day 18 and 19

Yesterday (Thursday) we went to the Jordan River a little bit north of were it goes into the Dead Sea. The Jordan River of today is smaller than it would have been when the Israelites crossed it. Now there is a dam near the Sea of Galilee that restricts the water flow and when the Israelites would have crossed it on their way to Jericho right around the time of the Passover it would have been at its flood stage, which could have been up to a mile wide. But even still, it is not like the Mississippi River or anything like that. This area was just reopened up to the public in the last few months, since the Jordan River is the dividing line between Israel and Jordan, and they don't always have the greatest of relationships to say the least.

Today (Friday) we woke up early and worked on an archaeology dig. It is the possible location of Ai (mentioned in Joshua 7, and a few other places). TJ and I were part of a group that worked in a section by the wall. No one has excavated in that spot before, and there should be a continuation of the city wall below the ground, which is exciting. That being said, it was mostly grunt work of moving stones. We did find pottery pieces, a circular flint stone (made for sling shots), and part of a grain grinding stone. The pictures below is the before picture, after picture, and one of 2 piles of stones we made.