by Nina Rozic
This year I was able to participate in the study season for the Khirbet al-Muhkayyat Project, along with Kathleen Macleod Kerr, a fellow undergraduate student from Wilfrid Laurier University. We were delighted to return to the dig house in Madaba where we had stayed in 2023 while completing the field-school credit for our degree program. However, this year we felt like true members of the team, as we were participating in work that would make its way into final project reports.
When we first arrived in Jordan, on May 14, we still had a few days to ourselves before the senior team members arrived. We decided to take a return trip to Petra, since it had been so breathtaking last year, and it was just as mind-blowing this year (and even better, I was able to visit on my birthday!). We spent some time trekking up the steep hills of Wadi Musa back to our hotel and were able to stop and catch our breath while talking and playing soccer with some local boys. Talking with them was a nice break while we regained our composure from the long walk up hills and stairs.
A few days later, work kicked off in the dining-room-turned-office in the dig house. The kitchen tables were transformed into an intricate maze of makeshift desks where everyone pored over articles, potsherds, maps, and bones. The main task for Kathleen and I was to draw potsherds from last year’s field season that had been stored in the museum in Madaba; our drawings would become illustrations in the reports that senior members were writing (Fig. 1). We also worked on editing and digitizing pottery drawings from last year, as well as previous years, practiced some pottery reading, and helped with organizational housekeeping tasks such as labeling boxes and bags of human and animal remains. It was a wonderful opportunity and experience to work more closely with the senior team members than we had our first year, and we both hope to return to Jordan next field season to work with everyone again.
During our final few days in Jordan, Kathleen and I decided to venture out on our own to experience Jordan in ways that we did not have time to do in 2023 given our tight schedule. We took a taxi down to Wadi Mujib and experienced an exhilarating (both because of the scenery and from fighting the currents) hike through the waterfalls and beautiful stone passageways. It was well worth the hike to reach the waterfall at the end of the trail (Fig. 2)! The next day, we took a trip to Amman with the logistics manager for the project, Mashoor, and his family to visit the project leader, Prof. Debra Foran. In Amman, at Jafra Restaurant and Café, we had the most delicious breakfast I have ever experienced. We then headed to the American Center of Research to have lunch and chat with researchers staying there and were able to explore the grounds a bit before heading into the library to get some more work done (Fig. 3).
Overall, our trip to Jordan was well worth it, and with our newfound knowledge and valuable experiences, we hope to return as part of the KMAP team next summer
Nina Rozic is an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, finishing up her fourth year and graduating with a major in archaeology and heritage studies and a minor in global studies. Recipient of the Jennifer C. Groot Memorial Fellowship, she is interested in pottery and artifact care and curation and enjoys learning about Near Eastern and Mesoamerican archaeology. In 2024 Nina is also participating in a work-study program in collections management, working with cataloging and re-boxing legacy collections at her university, as well as working on completing an individualized directed study on Mamluk pottery from Trans-central Jordan under Dr. Debra Foran, using survey pottery from previous seasons.