we're off to tour the tell, the wonderful tell of gath...

for those of you who don't know, wikipedia explains that a tell is:

tell or tall (Arabic: تلّ‎, tall, and Hebrew: תֵּל‎, tel), meaning "hill" or "mound", is a type of archaeological site in the form of an earthen mound that results from the accumulation and subsequent erosion of material deposited by human occupation over long periods of time. A tell mostly consists of architectural building materials containing a high proportion of stone, mudbrick or loam as well as (to a minor extent) domestic refuse. The distribution of this phenomenon spans from the Indus valley in the east to Central Europe in the west. There are about 50,000 visible tells in the Middle East, a testament to the long settlement of the area.

one of these 50,000 is tell es-safi, where the philistine city of gath once stood. within the tell i'm hoping to find some coins, potshards, vases, and lots and lots of old dirt.



Above is a picture of 9th century BCE vessels found at the site in the past.

[cue the indiana jones music now...]