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I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig
If you have heard how hard dig volunteers work, you may wonder why anyone would be foolish enough to do this
sort of thing. But it can also be fun. In what other line of serious scientific research do you get to race up a mound of
rubble pushing a wheelbarrow? Or smash big rocks with a hammer? And the teamwork this kind of enterprise requires
is phenomenal. Volunteers of every age and background come from around the world, all for the same purpose. They
have heard of the marvels of the past and want to see them with their own eyes.
Because this was my third season of excavations at Hazor, I thought I knew what to expect, but one week into the
2002 season all our expectations were challenged. First we found a basalt column base where we believed a Late Bronze
Age gate system would stand. Then we unearthed some masseboth (cultic standing stones) in that same area, in earlier
strata. That seemed to be a good sign, because cultic sites are sometimes in orientation with gate systems. But we never
found the monumental gate, although we did have an ongoing argument about whether this entrance was dated to the
Middle or Late Bronze Age.
About 30 masseboth appeared in rows beneath the basalt threshold and around its foundations. This unusual locus
resembled Flanders Fields, with rows of tombstone-shaped stelae. Digging through layers of burned bones and ash
around each stone (reminiscent of the leftovers of summer barbeques), I wondered how long this cultic installation had
been used. Soon the tops of more masseboth appeared among the standing stones we’d already exposed. I learned that
cultic sites were generally kept in one location through the generations: As the old stones were worn down or broken,
they were gradually covered in the upward progress of the tell, and new stones placed on top of them.
Unfortunately, the turmoil in Israel has halved the number of volunteers at Tel Hazor. If asked, I would have to say
that it may not be safe to travel around Israel as a tourist, but digging at the tell doesn’t require much travel at all. You
stay in one place, digging foxhole-like ditches.
Would I volunteer again next year? Yes! This venture is crucial in maintaining the contacts that will one day help
me enter the Ph.D. program I seek. And apart from that, I wouldn’t leave my friends in the lurch. There are so many
important finds churning up at Hazor, and too few hands to help.
Yep, I’m a-leavin’ the armchair behind, ‘cause I’m a die-hard diggin’ volunteer!

© 2006 Biblical Archaeology Society

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