Philadelphia

We ‘ve been out 8 days now and I think we could all go home happy. We ‘re certainly excited about what is to come, but we ‘ve had what feels like a pretty full trip already. But we ‘re pressing on.

We spent today in Philadelphia. Actually it was just the afternoon, as it took most of the morning driving, including some time in traffic and lunch in Delaware. (We didn’t want to miss that otherwise out-of-the-way state.)

This was also the first day we ‘ve split up, and we have no plans to do so again. I wanted to visit the Archaeology Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, but the kids need to see Independence Hall and Liberty Bell. Kelli and I had visited these sites on a cross-country road trip we took not long after we were married. Thus Kelli dropped me off at the museum and she and Becky took the kids on the tour of the sites. They took some photos but they ‘re not ready for posting, so all you get to see today is boring archaeology. I ‘ll be brief.

Musician figurine from Beth Shean, time of Israelites

The first thing to note is that this was one of the hottest days of the year in Philadelphia and the air-conditioning in the museum was only turned on in a few rooms. When I paid the entrance fee, the worker tried to explain to me which rooms were cool. But I was hardly going to be deterred from seeing what I care about by virtue of some 30 degrees.

Philistine strainer jug, time of the judges

The advantage of the Israel room not having air-conditioning was that I didn’t have to share. An occasional visitor would pass by, looking for the next cool corridor.

Bronze dagger from Beth Shemesh, approximately time of Samson

I was very impressed with the collection here. I should have known, given what I’ve taught over the years, but I don’t know if I ever put it together that it was this institution that sponsored the Beth Shean excavations in the 1920s, the Beth Shemesh excavations in the 1920s, and the Gibeon excavations in the 1960s. James B. Pritchard was a driving force in the middle of the 20th century.

Ceramic box and lid, from Canaanite temple at Beth Shean. I excavated in between this temple and a really cute girl on my first archaeological dig. (I don’t know that I’ve ever blogged about that.)

A LMLK seal impression, from a jar from the time of King Hezekiah. This one is for my friend George who wrote a whole book about these seal impressions.

Triumphal stela of Ramses II from Beth Shean.

I hope you ‘re not too disappointed by not seeing another picture of kids standing in front of something tall. I’m sure we ‘ll have more of those tomorrow when we visit New York City!