Archaeological Views: A Silver Lining at Abel Beth Maacah

It was one of those rare moments that every archaeologist dreams about: A small, rather unobtrusive jug with its neck missing was found on an earthen floor leaning against a wall. It evoked considerable excitement among the team; after all, it was a nearly complete vessel! Jaded supervisors, however, who had seen so much pottery in their time, thought, “OK, another jug … Nice to have.” We resisted the temptation to empty the dirt in the jug on-site and instead sent it to our dig office at Kibbutz Kfar Szold, where we could empty it under controlled conditions.