Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Omride Kingdom of Samaria


I am exhausted. We left at 7 am today to visit the sites of Samaria and Mt. Gerizim, the town of the Jewish sect known as Samaritans. It was not part of the regularly scheduled program, but was being visited by a production team staying here who will be making a doco on Biblical archaeology. Samaria is a site I have been very interested in seeing as it is an important site with ashlar masonry and going there last time wasn't possible because of the intifada. Getting there was a bit tricky as it is in the occupied territories and near the separation wall. We visited the site in an armored vehicle with a military escort. It was an interesting experience and a beautiful site, but the masonry was badly eroded. My friend Norma Franklin who works on the architecture and mason's marks at Megiddo and Samaria is discussing the early remains at Samaria in the photo.

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