The World That Was....

Two quick things via Dr. James Davila over at paleojudaica:

Dr. Joseph Cathey has started a new blog that will apparently be documenting the work at the Tel Gezer dig in Israel over the summer of 2006 - should be interesting so I'll also be adding it to my blog links on the sidebar.

Davila also mentions a short article about an old (though indeed by no means oldest) papyrus that is in the process of being deciphered thanks to some new technology. That's pretty cool, but what I wanted to note is a great little personal note Davila adds at the end of the post. I quote: "Bit by bit, a letter at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done." Preach it brother. I think that a lot of people fail to understand the incredibly painstaking work involved in getting an ancient document from wherever it got left 2000 years ago to a bookshelf near you. For some reason I found this comment kind of encouraging and inspiring today...nothing like a long day reading ancient literary theory while trying to make some kind of sense of your thesis in your head to make you get a little twitchy.

Remember, this world is a product of the world that was.

Update: Somehow Dr. Davila found me all the way out here on the edge of cyperspace and read my little post. Check out his comment on it here. Well, for the encouragement yesterday and the ego-boost today...cheers to Jim Davila.