on the highway that goes east from amman towards saudi and iraq, about half an hour out of the city, in the desert, there is a huge compound with sand colored walls and camoflauge tanks sitting outside of it. apparently it is a camp where american soldiers train iraqi police forces, and apparently it is not supposed to exist. you know, officially. i think this is why the walls are desert colored.

it is 40 degrees celsius here every day without wind and i do not know what that is in celsius but it is very hot. usually when i tell jordanians about the site we are digging and that it is sort of just a mound of stone tools in the middle of the eastern deserts, they scoff a bit and say, oh, well, thats not really archaeology.