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150 shekels with a story ...
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In the early nineties I spent some years travelling through Europe and the Middle East, and was fortunate enough to spend time at an archaelogical dig at Beth Shean in Israel.
It's an odd story - I had rocked up to a Kibbutz on the outskirts of the town late at night for accommodation but they were full. So I hiked into the city, climbed over a fence with my backpack and spent the night on the steps among these ruins.
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In the morning about 6am I was woken by some workers, who were very surprised to find a foreigner asleep at their worksite.
After some fast talking, and showing them drawings from my sketchbook, I was put to work digging and drawing (the chief archaeologist, Nagar, liked to keep drawings as an additional record of the works).
I ended up staying for a few months, with accommodation and food included - great people, great experience.
Here's some samples I did over a few months in the vicinity of the gatehouse entrance and bridge where the dig was focussed, which are now stored somewhere in the bowels of the Israeli Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem:
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Sometime later in the year after I had eventually returned to Australia, I was touched by receiving a thankyou letter and the 150 shekels in the mail, which was apparently an unexpected token of payment for my efforts!
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