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Re: orion Qumran ostracon
> >This speculation is simply incorrect. We know the difference between
> >dumped earth and undisturbed earth, which is rather difficult to miss
> >ordinarily, and this was ordinary. The main difference is in compaction,
> >The reason Dr. Magen dug again outside the wall and not in the trench on
> >the plateau is also that he recognized the difference between "dump" and
> >the compacted surface at the bottom of de Vaux's trench. On the other
Many thanks to James Strange for the clarification, and to S.G.
for forwarding this information to Orion. I was repeating what I was
told by the tour guide of the first Qumran expedition at the recent
Jerusalem conference, the tour on the first Sunday. The guide repeatedly
pointed to the place on the terrace dug by Strange as the place of origin
of the ostracon (with no mention of the nearby fence site, which was
pointed out by Hanan Eshel as the find site on the Thursday night trip
to Qumran). I asked the guide myself several times if he was absolutely
certain and he said yes each time. So the guide was also mistaken.
But now that that point is clarified I am puzzled. The volunteer as
I understand it was cleaning up the loose dirt to fill the original
hole, and in the process the ostracon was accidentally discovered.
But I don't understand. Was the volunteer digging below the loose
fill dirt into the compact soil? Why? BAR reported the volunteer
saying something about hearing a "clink" from the shovel. Please, S.G.,
obtain another clarification from James Strange: what exactly happened
at the moment of the find? Were the two ostraca side by side when
found, or separated? Did you see it in situ yourself? or was the in situ
reconstructed from the volunteer's report? i.e. when you first saw
it, was it in someone's hand showing it to you or was it still in the
dirt? Please, details... and again, thanks.
Greg Doudna