Anyone out there!?!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Lost Dutchman`s blog. Here you will occasionally find some mildly entertaining dribble about various trips I make. The main aim of this blog, however, is to keep y`all informed about what`s going on during this year`s excavation at Horvat Kur in Israel…Horva-what!?! Horvat Kur! Time to fill you in on what it`s all about.

Horvat Kur is a site on a small hill at the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Since 2007, the Kinneret Regional Project has started survey and excavation work on the site. KRP is a cooperation between various universities, with the main partners being the university of Bern, the university of Mainz, the university of Helsinki and Leiden university. In recent years these have been augmented by the university of Bucharest and as of 2012 by the Wofford College. Volunteers from these places come to the Galilee for four weeks every year to help out.

The broader aim of the KRP is to explore the cultural history and material heritage of the region. Previous work has been performed at the Bronze/Iron age site of Tell Kinrot, which is just a stone`s throw away from the Church at Tabgha. The current excavation at Horvat Kur aims to unearth a byzantine village in order to gain a better understanding of what rural life in this region was like 1600 years ago. So far, excavations have focused mainly on one area, where the remains of a public building were found. As it stands now, the evidence suggests that this is a synagogue.

I wouldn`t be writing this here unless there was some personal connection attached to it. Last year I went to Israel to help out with the excavations and had such a great time there that I`m going back to help out again. But last year, communication with those at home was a bit difficult to say the least (especially after busting my cellphone) so in order to be able to truly gloat at you people sitting in your homes in the rain …ehh I mean: in order to share all these wonderfull experiences with you, I set up this easy-to-follow blog so can get an idea of what life is like when you work your butt off for the advancement of academic knowledge. So keep an eye on this blog, activity is bound to increase as the summer – and with it, the departure date – approaches.

Singing off for now,