Test Test2 | Page 66

I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig

1988 Excavation Opportunities
Hands On: No Grid Lock at Ashkelon—The View from the Square

By Nicole Prevost Logan

James Whitred/Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon

It’s not glamorous being a square supervisor at a dig. It’s rather like being a sergeant on the front line, directing your
“privates”—the volunteers, who pick, shovel and carry—while the “officers”—the dig director, the associate director and
the grid supervisors—analyze and plan strategy. But you’re right there where the action is, and you know that the carefulness of your work determines whether archaeology is constructive or merely destructive.
For the past three summers, my job has been to supervise the excavation of one 10 meter by 10 meter square
located on top of the tell of Ashkelon, Israel, within sight of the Mediterranean Sea.
© 2006 Biblical Archaeology Society

61