In Jerusalem, there’s a place called the Temple Mount. On this site, Solomon’s Temple, and later, Herod’s Temple, were built as a location to worship God. During the 1967 Six-Day War, the small, nascent State of Israel was attacked by three Arab armies, yet still won East Jerusalem, reuniting the Temple Mount with the rest…
Since I’m hopping all over the globe, I thought I might as well hop in topics, as well. In this jet-lag induced state, I won’t notice any lack of continuity, and therefore, you shouldn’t, as well. I’ll come back to Israel, don’t worry. It was while we were engaged in archaology on Virginia’s Eastern Shore…
All I can say is that archaeologists work up an appetite. I’m not sure if it’s the hard, physical labor, or being outdoors in the fresh (and alternating hot and freezing) air, or what. When it comes time to eat, most archaeologists don’t pack anything with much dazzle for lunch– hummus and pita, leftover pasta…
A Colonial den of iniquity is all I can say. We had been plunked down in a tiny town, numbering around 281 souls, which dated back in continuous courthouse records to 1632, referring to John Smith’s map of the area in the early 17th century and had Daniel Boone’s signature from land surveys in the…
For our certification course in archaeology, we need to learn many things. First, we need to learn what it means to be certified. That will be today’s lesson. Certification does not mean that we turn into real archaeologists. That would be for individuals holding undergraduate and graduate degrees in anthropology and/or archaeology. That would not…
Our four-day weekend of an archaeological field school took place in a very small town on Virginia’s Eastern Shore near the Chesapeake Bay. The historic area and the survey excavation work on the village green drew students, professionals, and retirees from all over the country, including points as distant as Miami, Florida, and Seattle, Washington. …
I could never be on those Survivor-like reality shows, you know, the dirty hair, the tattered clothes, the lack of niceties and amenities…. In actuality, I’ve been cast in real life for the upcoming archaeological field school and the similarities are striking. My biggest question: how to blend in? This last year I focused on…
We took about a long lunch break and ducked into the Sackler Gallery of Art in downtown Washington, DC. The Cyrus Cylinder was on display, loaned from the British Museum, its first stop on a US tour. This iconic artifact of Biblical history was discovered in 1879 in Babylon, and has a most amazing story…
What is an archaeological field school? Experts would say that it’s an intensive archaeological excavation, often designed to last for several weeks on site, learning digging techniques, recording of data, surveying with a transit, lab work, and classification of artifacts, along with so much more. I would say it’s my very own Via Dolorosa. You…
This is just too cool. One of our local archaeology places scheduled a teen day camp for digging. At the end, families were invited to tour the site, led by their teen and the other archaeologist-directors, examining artifacts and what we could learn from what was uncovered. Brilliant. It allowed our other children to see…
