Saturday, March 5th

Camels in the Negev near Azuz

Michael and Ted

Rock Outcropping Containing Petroglyphs

Israeli Border Guard

Woman Giving Birth

Leopard

Pigs

Snake

Oryx, Man with Egyptian Shield, Ostrich

Ruins at Picnic Area

Dan, Davida, Michael, Thelma, & Ted

Our day involved a trip south into the Negev Desert toward the Egyptian border near the city of Azuz to visit an archaeological site containing numerous petroglyphs that were discovered by Davida and serve as the focus of her PhD dissertation.  We left at 9 am and met their friend Michael and his parents, Thelma and Dan from the States.  Mike and his family live on a Kibbutz south of Be’er Sheva.  After a 1-1/2 drive we left the main road and drove into the desert on an ever narrowing road near the city of Azuz.  We parked the car and began the walk toward a rocky area in the desert that contained the petroglyphs.  The location was very near the border with Egypt and the border guard stations for each country were fairly close and positioned all along the border.  After 15 minutes, we arrived at the rocks and began exploring the various petroglyphs which were chipped/etched into the rocks as far back as 6,000 years ago be people using the spice road from Africa to Rome that passed through the area.  The petroglyphs consisted of animals – oryx, camels, pigs, ostrich , people – men with raised arms and Egyptian shields, and women giving birth, tribal markings, and letters.  The most common is etchings of the oryx.
Around 3 pm we drove to a nearby area with trees for a picnic.  While Doron was preparing the meal, we walked through ruins of old houses.  The lunch picnic consisted of potato salad, beef kabobs, and hamburgers;  all of which was excellent.  By 4:30 pm we decided to begin the drive back to Be’er Sheva and Ted dropped me off at the bus station for my trip back to Tel Aviv.  I arrived back to the hotel around 8:15 pm.