Roman Mile Marker in Cistern

Today we began work on our squares. We are told by the Jordanian land owner that there is a cistern in what was a banana field last year. Then he told us that there was a Roman mile marker that he has put down the cistern to fill it as it was very deep. He showed us the depression in the middle of the field and so we began the square yesterday and today. Time will tell if we have the spot or not.

Tomorrow our group heads to Petra and I will work with the surveyor and document the missing elements of the area and place them on the digital map with the total station.

The photo is from the John the Baptist Baptismal site at Bethany beyond the Jordan. At the spoke where it is commemorated that Elijah was taken up to heaven there is a Roman Mile marker which is similar to the ones along the Roman road from Ebus to Livias. Michele Piccirillo is the man who was involved in the discovery and publication of the Roman mile markers on this road. If the Roman Mile marker is found in the cistern then this means that our site was on the Roman road and certainly can be identified as Livias.