Todays picture reflects two separate "pasts". This is a picture that I took of a replica (the original is in the Louvre in Paris - which I got to see in 2002 - see pic below) of the Mesha Stele (I'll get to that in a moment) sometime in the summer of 1988 at the British Museum (my first - and so far only visit there). The Mesha Stele or 'Moabite Stone' was originally constructed sometime in the 9th C. BCE by King Mesha of Moab and rediscovered in Dhiban in 1868. I am not going to recount the entire history of this inscription - for that you can check out the wikipedia article - its pretty good and relatively accurate.
I guess what is most striking about this first photo (1988) is that my reason for taking it was because I thought it was an interesting artifact...little did I know at that time that I would persue doctoral studies that focused almost entirely on the land of Moab (located in the modern day country of Jordan) - and spend 10 years excavating there.
I am sure as time goes by I will produce a significant number of images from my 'adventures' in Jordan - they continue and I hope to be in the field again next year. You can check out the website of the main project I have been involved with there - the Tell Madaba Archaeological Project if you are interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment