Tureah's
Tidbits
By:
Bevan Talbott & Kim
Maeyama
Since
the end of excavation, our final installment of The Long, Long,
Long and Hot Days of Our Lives has come as a joint effort; you
can blame Kim for how it ends, if it ends...
When we
last left the saga of the Long, Long, Long and Hot Days of
Our Lives, Dana had just walked in upon Gunnar's spies in
the midst of their meeting.
"What is going on here!?"
"You must leave, you do not belong here." Michael,
the spokesperson for the group replied.
"But those look like the plans to the site. What are
you doing with them?"
"You know too much already. You must leave before we
have to kill you."
"I demand to know the truth! I thought we were supposed
to be a team."
So Michael explains to Dana how Gunnar has discovered that
Tammi is digging for an ancient Persian formula for eternal
youth and he plans on finding the formula himself and taking
it back to Germany. He also explains how Will is also trying
to get the formula by brainwashing the volunteers in Area
1 which in turn is destroying Martha's chances at using her
Trinity students to sabotage everyone.
"Wait a minute, it sounds like all the volunteers are
just being used as pawns in this game. Slaving away eight
hours a day, up to our eyeballs in dirt; aren't we allowed
to want something in return?"
"Why don't all the students band together, find the formula,
donate it to science and let the world enjoy the youth that
we are living now? And leave the staff to fight out their
stupid games?"
With impeccable timing (as can only be found on television),
the other Dana bursts through the door, out of breath, as
if she had been running for her life.
"<<Pant, Pant>> Dana, I've just come from
the hostel <<pant some more>> and it seems the
Israeli students in the shower were on to some plot by the
staff to find..."
"...an ancient Persian formula for eternal youth? Yes,
I know, Michael was just filling me in."
"It seems the Israelis were there to discuss some counter-offensive.
I guess as I was waiting outside the shower door, they realized
that their group simply wasn't large enough and asked me if
all the other volunteers would help them put an end to the
staffer's plot."
"Ok, then! Dana listen carefully to what I am about to
say and then, if you can, run back to the hostel to fill in
our new allies." Dana says with a smile.
" We figured out the formula is somewhere in Area 3.
The problem is finding it without letting Dan or Julye know.
The field has already been closed down, so tonight we will
have to sneak in and dig in secrecy. At pottery washing this
evening, we'll spread the word to everyone."
As with every other
day for the last three and a half weeks, the volunteers assembled
for pottery washing. But today was different. Instead of the
usual dispersal of sleepy, half-conscious pottery washers,
the group centralized itself around Dana and Elanit.
"So, this is how it will go: Shachar will take a van-load
of students to the tel during dinner. All the staffers go
to dinner, so no one will even be suspicious. If he can, Shachar
will get in two drops during this time. Regardless, after
dinner, he'll tell Gunnar and Tammi that he has to run to
Beer-Sheva to see his wife and child, at which time he will
make the final drop."
"But can we trust
Shachar?" asks one nervous volunteer.
"Of course we can. How can we NOT trust a man who makes
us coffee and tea and makes sure we get breakfast every morning?
So, is everyone up to the challenge?"
"We were born ready" Chimes the group.
- The Long, Long, Long & Hot Days of Our
Lives Continued -
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Tureah's
Tidbits (Con't)
By:
Bevan Talbott & Kim
Maeyama
Later that evening Shachar
is successful in his mission and our heros work feverishly to
uncover the formula before their absence is discovered back
at the kibbutz. Suddenly, Tslil, overcome with excitement shouts
out.
"I've found it! Come here quick, I think I've found the
formula!!"
Hurridly the volunteers gather round to gaze at the object of
everyone's desire. But in their forgetful awe none of them hear
the encroaching footsteps, nor see the brightly colored pastel
ensemble.
"I'll take that, thank you very much!" Tammi's word
fell upon the silent group like a missplaced bucket of dirt
on a balk. They turn in disbelieve and slowly back away towards
the cliff that separates Area 3 from Petrie's dish.
"I will do no such thing" Tslil says gallantly. "You'll
have to take it from me."
"Duh, like afortiori!!" shouts Tammi as she fearlessly
lunges for the vile. The two wrestle precariously close to the
cliff. As the cloud of dust dissipates, a lone figure is seen
standing undiscernable until the matching hairband gives the
figure's identity away.
"HA! I have the ancient formula! I am victorious!!"
shouts Tammi.
"Not so schnelllll, my dear colleague! That formula is
mine" schpeaks Gunnar as he silently walks out of the darkness
of Petrie's Dish.
Again the dust clouds the eyes of all the volunteers as the
directors wrestle for control of the ancient formula. The battle
is intense and moves all through the site, only to be interrupted
by the echoed voice errupting from the observation tower.
"That'll be enough of that! Don't make me send Mine down
there to deal with the two of you!"
"Who is that?"
"...it's Will. Now we're all doomed!"
By this time, Will had exited the tower and joined in the struggle
for control of the formula. Again the fight found its way to
Area 3, all participants seeming relentless in their desire
to have the vile. The united volunteers watched in amazement
at the stamina of these seemingly non-working staffers until
one of them spoke.
"We have to do something. Not one of them can get control
of that formula. We've got to get that vile!"
"But what would you suggest we do?"
"We take them by shear force" a strange voice stated.
"Eddie!!!"
"We can force them into submission by clucking in harmony
to my favorite Van Halen tune. There will be no escape. Move
together, move quick and please tell me you all know Van Halen."
"Let's do it!"
So, together the group advances on the toiling trio. Led by
their goldie-locked leader, the usually silent nature preserve
is overwhelmed by the sound of clucking. As if stunned, the
wrestling group ceases their activity, inches away from the
drop into Petrie's Dish. Slowly the group of volunteers move
in on the trio and within no time they have the situation under
control.
As the final sunrise rose in the east, the victorious group
of volunteers pondered over what should become of the vile that
has caused so much trouble.
"I still think we should donate it to science."
"No," says Eddie, "the world is not yet ready
for such knowledge."
Eddie takes the small vile in his hand and faces the sunrise.
The group watches as he tosses up the vile into the air. It
slowly falls back to the earth, as if caught in slow motion
on one of Catherine's QVTR clips. As it reaches chest level,
Eddie, with his mighty Muelner, swings through, sending the
vile into the Wadi Nahal Besor. Perhaps it found its end as
it hit the wadi floor, or perhaps it will surface again...no
one really knows.
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Staff
Spotlight
By:
Kim Maeyama
Because you all are probably
emotionally exhausted after reading the final installment to
the "Long, Long, Long & Hot Days of Our Lives"
the Staff Spotlight is going to be short and sweet. Since the
dig is over, my connection with most of the staffers is limited,
so I'm just gonna do a tidbit on me, Kim Maeyama.
So, in short I am a doctoral candidate at the Katholieke Universteit
Leuven (KUL), Leuven, Belgium. The focus of my research involves
the analysis of the archaeological record of Syro-Palestine
during the Middle Bronze Age II period. During the past season,
I was a "field floater" in that my initial responsibility
was to the maintenance of the technological aspects of the dig.
This primarily involved the up-keep of a custom designed database
and Local Area Network, as well as assisting Catherine Walker
with digital image generation and web construction (primarily
this newsletter).
/ headlines...
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Tools 'o da Trade
By:
Kim Maeyama
Tools in use today are slowly changing as technology
becomes more and more a part of archaeology. One of these
tools might be considered as an indirect participant in the
actual archaeology, but is just as important. This tool is
the web.
In constructing this website, we operated off of some basic
goals. Primarily, making use of the world wide web to provide
all others around the world access to the experience of digging
in Israel. Since most of you have already previewed this site,
you know about what is offered and already have an idea as
to whether or not we have achieved that goal.
The site as you now see is it the result of several months
of conceptualization and just as many months of actual construction.
Many programs were used to aid in the construction of the
site, among them Macromedia's Dreamweaver 2.0, Netscape Composer,
Adobe Photoshop and Micrographx Picture Publisher 7.0. It
is our hope that, in the future, the web will be utilized
more readily by the archaeological community, not just as
a means of public relations, but also to disseminate archaeological
data to others within the archaeological community.
/ headlines...
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