Halas

That's it for us this season.  I haven't been able to post anything because we've been trying to wrap everything up.  Most people don't realize that as much work goes into closing a dig as it does opening it.

We have to decide where & when to, literally, stop digging.  The where & when matter for many reasons: What is going to be left exposed? Where will we start up next season? How long can we keep digging and still complete all the mapping & photography that needs to be done?We also need to stop in time for the lab to process the artifacts and get them all packed away for storage.  Time is needed to write up various reports on artifacts & the site in general.  We also had to pack up all the supplies we've used (inside & out.)  A lot goes into the last few days.

Murphy's Law was at play, we found the most awesome stuff on the last two days.  I've included some various photos of where we ended and what we found.  Really cool stuff.  We think we are down to about 1500-1650 give or take.

I hope to do one more wrap up blog on Sunday, from Muscat, but for today, goodbye Salalah!  Enjoy the photos. ;-)

If you look at the first blog pictures you can see how much dirt we moved!

Another one to show how deep the units got.

In the last week several stairs were found, next year we'll have to see where they go.

Also on the next to last day we found some really big bones... no not dinosaur... probably camel.

That is sort of a basin, it was also found the day before we stopped digging.

Top view of basin.

Big shout out to our workers (& Ahmed) we couldn't have done it without them!

A glass jar base, a clay stopper, a coin & a bone that might have been worked.

The top half of a tea pot.

A metal blade, possible a knife or sword piece.

P.S. In case you don't speak Arabic, halas means stop.

P.P.S. We now believe in the Khareef.  It rains almost every morning and it's getting cooler in the evenings.  They say in a month it will be nice and in 2 months it will be paradise.  I say we do a winter season so we can check it out! ;-)