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I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig
matched the ash around the storage jars in the balk, only 3 feet away. Eventually a complete wine service set emerged,
nested together with utensils. Included were a small jug and cooking pot, a cooking ring for the cooking pot, several
plates and drinking bowls, a wine strainer and two oil lamps. The cooking pot and one of the oil lamps were intact. All
of the other pieces had sustained some damage but were restorable. Their context gave the impression that they had
fallen as a nested stack and then had toppled over to one side. Over the course of the next two days, the pottery was
drawn and photographed in situ, extracted piece by piece, cleaned by acid bath and sent to Tel Aviv University for
restoration.
Many questions filled my mind. Who had owned this 2,700-year-old wine set? How does this small find add to our
understanding of the city’s history? How do these finds fit with the surrounding context? What had been an academic
matter now became quite personal: To study in the somewhat sterile confines of a classroom is one thing; to rummage
through the remains that mark the passing of another human soul is quite another.

© 2006 Biblical Archaeology Society

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