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Beit Lehi / Beit Loya: An Introduction

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In 1992, while living in Pennsylvania, USA, I read a copy of an article, which outlined the remarkable discovery of a cave in Israel by military bulldozers.  The article described how two bulldozers were working in tandem to cut a road on a military base.  One driver was struck ill and had to be evacuated for care.  The other driver decided to carry on and ended up clipping the edge of a small cave. Inside the cave, were inscriptions, which reportedly were written in monumental Hebrew, a script reportedly utilized around 600 B.C. (BCE).  I don't recall much more of the article, and it has been lost to the annals of time. The article caught my young imagination, and I thought how wonderful it would be to someday go to this place.  Not being a person of "means," I remembered the article, but never actually believed I would go.  Enter my wife. It "just so happens" that I married the woman, whose Aunt "just so happens" to be the sister of the man who helps...
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Beit Lehi / Beit Loya - The second day's dig; and a night on the town

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We began our workday with a beautiful breakfast in the basement of the hotel. Breakfasts are always a beautiful thing!  There are a wide array of good foods to select from.  I've rarely eaten as well at home in the United States.  Additionally, there are buns and apples as well as bread and peanut butter that can be wrapped into a few napkins for later dig-snacks.   Breakfast in Israel is always a beautiful thing! We stopped at a small market, which had some of the funniest items.  My daughter Emma was in Japan, and here in this market in Lachish was one of her favorite Japanese snacks.  Seeing pocky chocolate sticks in Hebrew packaging was a funny juxtaposition of cultures.  Here were Americans, in Israel, having a Japanese snack.   Pocky - A popular Japanese snack. We arrived at the dig site and were given our assignment to uncover a section of the Idumean temple wall.  It was assumed at the time this was in-fact a temple, and not...
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Beit Lehi / Beit Loya - The third days dig

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Our third day brought an amazing opportunity. On the south-west outskirts of the settlement, was a round structure.  Apparently, circular structures are either little-known, or nonexistent in Ancient Israel.  Here was an opportunity to excavate an anomaly.  The circular structure was approximately 13' (+/-) in diameter, with rectangular stones framing it.  There is a sill with a channel carved into the center, the likes that have been seen in funeral tombs. The circular structure The sill Dallin digging out the circular structure Another friend Dirty Work Slightly less dirty...hmmm. AN ANCIENT QUARRY One of the areas of import, was a deep quarry.  The photos of the quarry can't do it justice.  At approximately 60' under the ground, it is an ominous room.  The work ethic of those who created and drew from this quarry is beyond impressive.  
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Location: Lachish, Israel
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