Finally, on October 26th, we began systematic work in the field. After a day of meetings and two in the field, talking to landowners and establishing priorities, we actually started collecting samples and generating new information from our descriptions.
Despite not having obtained new information in the area of pedology and geology, the team of archaeologists has already managed to collect important samples, sometimes lost on the surface of the ground. These pieces, without stratigraphic context (that is, without being inside soil or sediment), may be interesting, but they are not useful for our work, as, without this context, we cannot determine the age of the pieces.
Almost everywhere we stop, local people approach and ask what we are doing and where we are from. You then discover that, when you say that we come from Brazil, smiles and doors open. People routinely show up with tea. Then we sat in a circle on the floor and tried to maintain some kind of communication.
For this, we depend immensely on Elham, the representative of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, who stays with us all day. Sympathy in person. As determined by the Jordanian government, we need to carry out all the work accompanied by her, who always tries to understand what we are doing. And she takes notes and takes photos all day. Due to this requirement, we will not be able to work in the field on Friday, as people do not work on that day of the week here. So, we will return to systematic work on Saturday.
Friday will be the day to take a tour of the western part of the country, where we will visit the Dead Sea and a Templar castle in Al Karak. With the time left, we will work with the samples already collected.
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