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I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig
Dig Scholarship
Tall al-Umayri
John Raab, 2003
For John Raab, who had a son in college and a daughter in high school, it was not an easy decision to enroll
at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary to
study the Bible. But his lifelong interest in the Bible
lands not only led him to enter the Seminary, but to
volunteer at Tall al-’Umayri, a site in Jordan that
many scholars believe offers clues about the early
development of the Israelites. Though Raab was
excited to win the BAR dig scholarship, he didn’t
know just how much his dig experience would affect
him.
Two thousand years of earthquakes, erosion and recycling of building material have left their toll at Bethsaida. My
first impression of the tell was that it was just a jumble of nondescript rocks, rocks and more rocks. But as we removed
the dirt and the finds, the head archaeologist, Rami Arav, would come around and tell us which rocks to leave, because
they were part of ancient structures, and which to remove. I wondered, how does he know? Near a newly excavated part
of the Iron Age city wall, I had the opportunity to look more closely at the layers in the balk (the walls of unexcavated dirt
© 2006 Biblical Archaeology Society
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