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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 81