Thanks Peter. Linda
--- On Mon, 2/23/09, Peta-de-Aztlan <peter.lopez51@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Peta-de-Aztlan <peter.lopez51@yahoo.com>
Subject: [Shabbat Shalom - Jerusalem] shabbat shalom 20.02.09
To: olsvig2000@yahoo.com
Date: Monday, February 23, 2009, 2:32 AM
shabbat shalom 20.02.09
...
Thursday, February 19, 2009 9:29:49 PM
To:Linda Olsvig-Whittaker ; Linda Olsvig-Whittaker
Hi everyone,
Back home from the Negev, just ahead of a humongous dust storm that comes before rain all weekend. I came back a day early; our team had to be pulled for the weekend anyway, since we can't work in this weather. Ever see a dust storm roll in across the desert? It wasn't quite like the one in "Lawrence of Arabia" and we didn't have to put our camel sticks under our galabeyas to ride it out, but it was impressive.
I went down with my field team leader, Margareta, on Sunday and met with our team at the foot of Avdat (that ancient city in the picture I sent last week). That was to be our morning starting point all week, not least because a gas station there sold good, strong coffee.
We took two jeeps into the mapping area, and one promptly broke down halfway there, so most of us trudged in. The other jeep was driven by the Bedouin guard for the area, Juma, who turned out to be a real blessing. He looked after us, checked on us in the afternoon to make sure we were okay. Also, one of our study squares had his village smack in the middle, so he was able to introduce us to the sheikh. Not nice to go wandering around a Beduin village without permission so they know what you are doing. Far as they are concerned, we are "Juma's friends" and maybe a little crazy, but harmless.
The Negev desert is beautiful, especially in this area. It's very dry this year (yes, you can tell the difference) and no annuals, just half dead perennials. It is stark and grand. A canyon runs through our study area (five plots, each a kilometer on the side) and also a "Beduin highway". The second day I was sampling near this track and between 8 and 9 we had two flocks of sheep, one of goats, two groups of donkeys and a camel herd. Morning rush hour traffic. They all ignored us, intent on getting to grazing areas. 4 pm, here they came again, shuffling back to the village. They still have good shepherds in that camp, the kind who go ahead of the flock rather than driving it from the rear. (It's nice to see real professional skill at work. One old woman was a real pro, rode a donkey in front of her flock like Moses leading the Hebrews, and her two dogs brought up the rear, all completely calm and silent. A pleasure to watch.
The area of our work is loaded with antiquities. This was a busy place about 2,000 years ago. Terraced farms in every wadi (dry streambed) where they caught the sparse rain on the hills and channeled it down. Some farms were huge, some small. Two watchtowers, possiby from Davidic times, one on a hilltop and one on the crest of the canyon. They both had platforms for signal fires. One hillside full of "dew mounds" (small cairns of unknown function related to agriculture). I found some petroglyphs. Broken pottery all over. Paleolithic(Neanderthal, 30,000 years old or more) flint tool fragments so common that I got tired of collecting them, and my pockets were full of them. Archeologist's heaven.
But we were there to map habitat and we did. Walking from 8 am to 4 pm. I haven't done this in years, and I lost a kilo this week. The team is good, including a dearly loved retired biologist from my organization, some freelance botanists and environmental assessment people, a couple grad students. They were willing to work this hard and enjoy it.
I had arranged comfortable living quarters for us in Mizpe Ramon, down the road a bit. Two cottages with kitchens. We were able to rest well, in the comfort of a home rather than sleeping bags as is common. Most of our guys were vegetarian, so food was interesting. I'm a good cook and I was automatically in charge of the kitchen. Granola, fruit, oatmeal in the morning, sandwiches and humous in the field, and Chinese vegetarian at night, stir fry and rice. Sure was healthy food, anyway.
I left early to go to a meeting in Volcani, so I stopped in Sede Boqer on the way. I was a research scientist in Sede Boqer between 1984 and 1994; this work keeps me connected with old friends there. Also new friends, since Sede Boqer has become the hub of Israel's LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) system. We are working on two LTER sites in this study, in fact. So I had coordination to do, and they have provided some logistical support (photocopies, Juma's help, etc.). Nice to come back to Sede Boqer with my head up, leading a research team, after some of my antics down there in my drinking days.....
I don't go back for the second week down there; Margareta is leading them very well and doesn't need me, while I have serious database work to do in the office. I'll join them again in the north when we map the mediterranean part of our study near Mt. Carmel. Then too it will probably just be a few days for me. Still, it is nice to get in the field for a change.
I also have a new Dutch graduate student on the way to join us in late March. We settled this in the last two days. He's a Wageningen graduate student of my old friend Karle Sykora, doing an internship on our EBONE project for his M.Sc. That makes three students connected to the project. This is healthy, it gives us some freshness and bounce. One is a student at Technion working on remote sensing, one is an ecosystem student working in the desert and now this guy I think I will put on biodivesity analysis. Hey, we are beginning to look serious. So far, our European partners love us since we are jumping in and doing stuff rather than the usuall blah blah blah in workshops.
My cats were glad to see me when I got home. It took a couple days for things to settle down around the house. When I'm gone they are clearly upset and mark territories, knock things off shelves and similar mischief. It's one reason I don't like to travel so much these days; even with good care there is work to do when I get home.
So, this is the field season. It will be busy through March, then I send two or three of my guys to France to report on our work in the next EBONE meeting. I'm not going myself, too much to do, but will go to the next meeting, Thessaloniki, in the fall.
Guess that's it for now.
shabbat shalom,
Linda
Picture Posted by Peter S. Lopez
 < ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>http://shabbat-shalom-jerusalem.blogspot.com/-- Posted By Peta-de-Aztlan to Shabbat Shalom - Jerusalem at 2/20/2009 09:29:00 PM
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