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I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig

Digging in Joshua’s Shadow
By Barbara Del Bianco

Sidebar to: Excavation Opportunities 1987
Last June, Barbara Del Bianco, a 49-year-old
housewife and mother of five, fulfilled a dream—
she volunteered at the Mt. Ebal excavation
directed by Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal (see
“Has Joshua’s Altar Been Found on Mt. Ebal?”
BAR 11:01).
Mrs. Del Bianco, who had never taken part in a
dig before, chose Mt. Ebal after reading BAR’s
annual dig opportunity issue. As a religion teacher
at her church, she had often read in Deuteronomy
27 about Moses’ command to Joshua and the
Israelites to erect an altar on Mt. Ebal. When she
finally stood on Mt. Ebal, she admits that “It was
as if I could see Joshua and his troops marching
through the valley below.”
Following are entries from the daily journal she
kept while in Israel.

June 22, 1986
10:30 p.m.
I checked out of the Moriah Hotel in Jerusalem and took a cab to meet Gene Sucov, an old Pittsburgh friend who
has been living in Jerusalem for the last month. A quick lunch and Gene and I were off on the adventure of THE DIG!
We arrived at the bus station at Netanya—a coastal town just north of Tel Aviv—at 5:30 p.m., after a two-hour ride from
Jerusalem. We were met by a dig worker named Nevi who drove us by van to our base camp, in a small settlement near
the city of Nablus.
We are living in the dormitory of a local school. I have a room with six cots all to myself. Gene and Paul have the
room to my right and two Israeli girls are in the room to my left. Each room opens directly outside. There is a concrete
walkway in front of our doors and a small grass lawn beyond the walk.
Gene and I were happy to meet another American, Paul Rollet, from Illinois. We three are the only Americans who
came this far—after 22 of us had signed on for this week of the dig! The other 19 cancelled, along with lots of other
Americans who decided to respond to terrorism this summer by staying home. The rest of the volunteers are young Israeli
college girls.
© 2006 Biblical Archaeology Society

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