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"BE STRONG AND
COURAGEOUS
DO NOT BE TERRIFIED OR DISCOURAGED"
JOSHUA 1:9
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| The 2006 Dig: In
spite of the missiles flying from southern Lebanon
into northern Israel,
Dr. Oded Lipschits of Tel Aviv University and Prof.
Manfred Oeming of Heidelberg University courageously
decided to proceed as scheduled with the second
season of excavations by the royal Judean citadel at
Tel Ramat Rahel in southern Jerusalem. During
the month-long dig, there were up to 70 volunteers
from as far away as Australia, Argentina, Arizona,
California, Canada and Hong Kong, as well as from
Greece, Germany, Great Britain, France and the
Netherlands. During the first week of August, I
collected six hardy excited Americans (ages 16 to
69) at Ben Gurion Airport and deposited them at
Ramat Rahel for a two-week stint at the dig.
Nearly every morning I joined them before sunrise,
dumping buckets of excavated soil into wheelbarrows
and sifting for coins, bones and glass while
observing the progress in our area, D1, as we
exposed its layers. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Sunrise in area D1, Tel Ramat
Rahel |
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"A year ago, Dr.
Bill Creasy [who had volunteered during the 2005
season], mentioned the dig in passing in our Bible
class. I went home and told my husband, I’d
love to do this. It’s ancient history, but
it’s also present. And it has ramifications
for the future. The “land” is such a character
in the Bible. As much as Abraham and Moses.
For me, it would be like stepping into the Bible on
a personal level.
Then when the violence started, it wasn’t about
the dig at all, but coming to support the Israelis.
I felt it was important to stand shoulder to
shoulder, as a Christian with Israelis." |
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Amy Emmet
La Jolla, California |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Amy Emmet unearthing the wall of a
still unidentified structure |
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| “Working on a dig is
much better than going on a cruise. It’s fun
and the people you meet are so intelligent.
For the second year, I'm working in area C1.
There are lots of good finds and we're working on
exposing pool number 4. Lior, the supervisor
of our area, found an arrowhead, presumably Iron
Age, within the first 10 minutes of the dig.
Even when it was still dark." [In the
area where Patricia dug, by the third week, no less
than 50 buckets were filled with pottery!
Opposite Patricia's area, Dig Director Oded's kids
and their friends ages 4 on up found 6 Hellenistic
coins from the 2nd century B.C. -- gila] |
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Patricia
Boston, Massachusetts |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Early morning in Area C1 |
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| "Why am I on the
dig? Insanity runs through my family.
Just kidding. I retired three weeks ago from
Boeing. I was an engineer and had wanted to do
this. I attended a series of lectures at the
University of Judaism in L.A. given by archeologists
and wanted to see for myself. I was tired of
seeing archeology on view-graphs. After four days
of digging, I found a pot handle. But what we
are really looking for is the lost book mentioned in
every other sentence in the Book of Kings -- the
Annals of the Kings of Judah." [This book is
mentioned 15 times in the First and Second Book of
Kings -- but Joe's kidding again -- gila] |
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Joe Porzucki |
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Los Angeles, CA |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Joe Porzucki (right) and Mike
Ramming (left) at the afternoon pottery wash |
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| "As a Lutheran
pastor, I've been bringing groups to the Holy Land
since the 1980s. I've always wanted to dig.
My body would be happier if I had done this at 40,
and not at 62. What I like about the dig is
that it's an international group and it's great to
meet all the students." |
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Mike Ramming
Callao, Virginia |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Exposing an intricate water
installation with at least 4 pools |
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| "I love the Bible
and I love Israel and I love history and this is all
wrapped up in one. This dig is a good way to
"feel" the land and not just "visit" it. The
security issues didn't disturb me at all. I
happened to be in Israel on September 11th. I
was on a mission with 75 people to show solidarity
with Israel. In the morning we visited Gilo, a
southern neighborhood in Jerusalem, and we met a
psychologist who was doing trauma counseling with
kids who were being shot at. In the evening
the psychologist came to counsel one of our members
whose office was in the Twin Towers and had been
wiped out. Terror is a global phenomenon.
The ultimate concession to terrorism would be not to
travel to London, Madrid or Jerusalem.
I get a charge out of the resilience of the
Israelis who live life to the fullest in the face of
adversity.
Here at the dig there is tremendous diversity.
By self selection, they are interesting people.
One of the most heterogeneous groups you can imagine
and everyone is respectful of the other's views." |
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Marc Suvall
New Rochelle, New York |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Great diversity in age as well as
nationality |
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"Archeology digs
are no different from corporate America.
Watching the whole dig to me was a beautiful lesson
in Management, Teaming and Organization Dynamics.
I watched the leaders share the vision the best they
possibly could with the information they had
available. Then, as digging took place, and
new walls discovered, the vision changed. As
with any organization, some people deal well with
change, and some don’t.
I learned that everyone in archeology has their own
opinion about what the site really looks like and
how work should be completed. I was never
quite clear of the management hierarchy…and whose
opinion mattered more. While one site
supervisor would tell me to dig one way, another
would tell me another way. I found that it was
best to collect all of the input, process it, and do
what I thought was best. For once in my life,
I was thankful I didn’t have an opinion! |
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Courtesy of Oded
Lipshits |
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Teaming at the Ramat Rahel Dig |
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The site was a place
where inefficiencies worked themselves out.
Bucket lines – sometimes initially viewed as the
epitome of teamwork and efficiency turned out to be
one of the more inefficient methods. In truth,
we owe much of our accomplishment to Chuko Liang
(181-234 AD) – the genius behind the Wheelbarrow –
my best friend
in Israel. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Molly, the Wheelbarrow Woman |
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Paul said, “Forget
yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”
I think the biggest lesson I took away from this is
the complete lack of selfishness you feel.
Here are these Archeologists who have this
opportunity to excavate the site. They work so
hard planning for it year-round. Out of that
year, they have only one month to dig.
It is during this month that they are completely
reliant on volunteers to come through for them and
do as much as they possibly can. To leave that
site knowing you made the biggest contribution you
had to offer and you got them one-step-closer to
uncovering the secrets that lay beneath the
earth…that’s a pretty good feeling and one you get
to live with the rest of your life!
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My own Personal Revelation:
Jerusalem T-Shirt: $5
Ramat Rahel Hotel: $1,000
Falafel Sandwiches: Free…if you buy enough
Silk Persian Rugs
The opportunity to experience and participate in
something
so much greater than yourself: PRICELESS!!" |
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Molly Wendell
Scottsdale, Arizona |
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"It's a great honor to share my 26th
birthday with new friends on the dig.
Working together is always a strong
connection for friendship. Last year I
dug the entire season and this summer I'm
planning to dig the entire season as well.
The highlight for me last year was the
"Israeli" breakfast. That's why I came
back!" |
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Carsten Kettering
Heidelberg, Germany |
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“Images of Indiana Jones and the Raiders
of the Lost Ark swirled through my mind
when I heard I had the chance to work on a
live excavation in the heart of the Holy
Land. I could picture myself brushing
off centuries of cobwebs that had hidden a
tunnel used over 2000 years ago, or reading
into a hole to investigate a glimmer out of
the corner of my eye, only to pull out a
gold coin (or more realistically bronze).
Our first day came with a bit of surprise.
I expected to be waking up early around 6 or
7 a.m. to begin, but I was wrong.
Nothing but the early morning haze and
lights from the city lit the room at the
ripe hour of 4.30 a.m.
The dig site was one of confusion in the
early morning darkness and everyone stumbled
over hoes and buckets. People of all
ages, countries and backgrounds participated
in the dig. I think I was the youngest
and my Grandpa was the oldest. We started to
work by moving rocks and cleaning off rocks
uncovered through the process of moving the
previous rocks, a procedure less exciting
than how it’s described.
Typically after innumerable hours of working
in the morning, we could see the light at
the end of the tunnel: breakfast. If
you’re expecting bacon and eggs, you would
be sadly mistaken. According to the
strict kosher standards, you won’t find a
pig within a mile of the kitchen, but that
did not mean that there was a lack of choice
for breakfast.
A long table covered with a variety of
cheeses, eggs and fruit was sprawled out
before us as we quickly washed our hands to
dig in. After the morning
announcements, we returned to the site, with
food in our stomachs and spirits charged. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Californians Taylor
and Greg moving boulders out of the
Abbasid building |
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Our area, D-1 was a mystery in the beginning
to the leaders of the dig, Oded, Yuval and
Benny. We found early Byzantine period
walls mixed with Abbasid (early Arab)
pottery and coins. Somewhere, the two
periods intersected, but, to our leader’s
chagrin, none could explain the mix of stone
walls and tiled pools, seeming to date from
two distinctly different periods in time.
As we continued to uncover the potpourri of
rocks and stones (and if you don’t know the
difference, stones are rocks with a
purpose), we dug deeper and deeper into our
dirt cubicles, not knowing what we would
uncover. I was fortunate to be party
to a major find, an Abbasid painted figure
of the head of a dog, proving that it was
the Arabs who filled in the pool.
Looking back, the hard work and loss of
sleep are becoming a dim memory. My
calluses are healed and my muscles have long
forgotten the abuse. Towards the end
of the dig, I felt a level of respect and
companionship with the Israelis that is hard
to explain. Standing
shoulder-to-shoulder with them during their
trials has made me understand Israel’s
importance in this world and given me a
reason to support them, not only out of
friendship, but something much deeper.” |
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Taylor
"Indiana Jones" Nickel, 16
San Clemente, California |
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“I like
the Bible and I like history and I like
to do adventurous things with my
grandkids. With all the stories we
heard, it didn’t seem like Ramat Rahel
in Jerusalem was a dangerous part of the
country to be in. I was careful,
particularly because I was taking my
16-year-old grandson, Taylor. His
mom and dad were supportive and when the
American sponsor pulled out, the parents
said, he definitely “should” go. There’s
a real element of adventure in coming to
this dig at this time.
On our free day, as I was walking around
the city and looking at all the
tourists, I thought to myself, hey, I’m
substantiating the history they are
looking at!” |
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Jim Bochniarz
San Clemente, California |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Greg finds a
nearly-intact oil lamp from the early
Arabic period |
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"I wanted to
come back to Israel cause I had such a good
time when I was here on tour in March 2004.
I wanted to be part of biblical history.
Being here on the dig, I see everything I’ve
been studying in the Bible in a new light.
I’m 31 and have been studying the bible for
the past twenty-some-odd years.
In college I studied theology. My
favorite passage is Joshua 1:9, “Be
strong and courageous. Do not be
terrified or discouraged, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.”
Also Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is being sure
of what we hope and certain of things we
do not see.” When the hostilities
broke out, I never thought twice about
it. I had been planning to dig for
a year and God wanted me to do this.
I didn’t realize how much work
archeology is. I thought it would be
easier to find things. I thought
there would be more coins and didn't
expect to find so much broken pottery.
I found two stamps and two oil lamps and
some really cool green glass. Also
a toy – maybe a clay dog that was
painted. We don’t know yet what it
was." |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Close-up of the oil
lamp Greg found on the floor of a water
installation (perhaps!) |
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| "Oded,
the director of the dig, told us some
archeologists could dig for 20 years and
would die to find what we found.
Archeology is a lot of hard work.
You have to be prepared for it to be a
lot more strenuous than you may have
imagined. Be prepared to learn
more than you’ve learned for a long
time. It’s amazing that people build
on top of each other. We just
knock buildings down and build again.
In every location there are three or
four installations. No wall we
build today would last 2,000 years.
Some buildings last 50 years at most.
The ancients had a long-term
perspective. We are so
short-sighted.” |
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Greg Smart
Playa del Rey, California |
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More commentary and photos on the dig at
Ramat Rahel at: “Holy Sites,
Gila’s Highlights.” Read
"pilgrims talk" about the
2008 Ramat Rahel dig. |
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