Our day was cut short today because we could only do part of what we had planned on. But what we did do was still very informative. Our first stop was Samuels' Tomb. We went up to the roof of the building that it is in and found out that we were higher up than Jerusalem itself is. Our new tour guide, Aton, then gave us a ton of information about all of the places that we could see. The actual building we were at was really sacred to Muslims and there was some sort of prayer service going on. We did not actually get to see the tomb of Samuel because of the service, but we were in the same building that it is in.
Our next stop was at a mall for lunch. We ate at a coffeeshop and were allowed to look around at the shops for about half an hour. Our last stop of the day was to be the most fun. We were taking part in an archaelogical dig in the Kidron Valley. All of the dirt that had been taken our from under the temple mount was dumped there illegaly. We were going to sift through the dirt looking for artifacts. When we got to the site, the guide told us that there was some sort of water problem and we would not be able to take part in the dig today. Then he gave us a speech on what had been found there so far. He told us how the different temples had been built on the Temple Mount and how the artifacts found were from different periods. We saw different pottery, mosaics, coins, and such from all different periods. One of the most important things found there was a seal that showed ties to Egypt. They also found tiles that were colored which proved Josephus right in saying that Herod used colored tiles in the temple. It was a really informational day and we saw a lot of interesting things but we were bummed about not being able to do the dig. We will go there next week though, so we will not be missing out completely. Tomorrow is going to be another long day, but will of course be exciting.
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