BAR Excavation in Jerusalem Highlights Summer Seminar

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The following report was prepared by Jim (Yaakov) Fleming, BAR’s Jerusalem correspondent and Director of BAR’s Summer Seminar in Israel.

The first BAR-sponsored excavations took place last summer—appropriately enough—in Jerusalem.

Not only did BAR members supply some of the funds to support the excavations, but much of the active work was carried out by the participants in BAR’s 6-week summer seminar in Israel.

We dug at two sites: One was on Mount Zion and the other was adjacent to the Scottish Church of St. Andrew’s near the Hebron Road.

The digging uncovered remains of a Byzantine church, a Roman road, what may have been the famous Gate of the Essenes from the New Testament period, as well as evidence of occupation from the Israelite monarchy. Some of the finds were stunning, including rare gold on silver objects from the Israelite period. (Unfortunately, these were uncovered just days after the BAR participants left the dig.) Other finds included a scarab, signet rings, fragments of ivory carvings, Babylonian arrowheads as well as massive architectural features and plenty of ever-present pottery.

A full report on these exciting excavations will appear in future issues of BAR. The reports will be prepared in conjunction with the excavation directors—Gabriel Barkay of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and co-director of the Lachish excavations, who directed the BAR dig adjacent to the Scottish Church, and Father Bar-Gil Pixner of the Church of the Dormition and Shlomo Margalit, who directed the other BAR dig on Mount Zion.

Participants in BAR’s first Summer Seminar returned from Israel with Sinai dust still clinging to their boots. The Sinai wilderness camping trip had ended just hours before heading home by way of Ben Gurion airport. It, like the digging in Jerusalem and the field trips, had been exhilarating and exhausting.

Despite the heavy-paced schedule, however, the participants’ recommendations for next year reiterated, “Don’t leave anything out.” In deference to their conflicting request for “more free time,” we’re 055adding a few more days to the Seminar for 1980 while covering the same amount of material.

Members of the group had met each other for the first time in New York where they had gathered from all over the country. They were different ages—from college students to retirees—and different backgrounds, but were united by vigor and friendliness, a willingness to try something new, a close feeling for the Bible and Israel, and a desire to work, learn and experience as much as they could in the six weeks before them.

Interestingly enough, those participants who did not take the seminar for credit worked just as hard as those who were working for college credit. (Credit was offered to Seminar participants by Hebrew University for two courses: Introduction to Biblical Archaeology and Introduction to Historical Biblical Geography.) Everyone—those working for college credit as well as those who “came along for the ride”—joined the field trips, climbed almost all the dozens of tells, visited the museums, listened to the lectures, and even took the final exams.

The Seminar had three major components: the excavations in Jerusalem, the field trips (to Galilee, the Negev, the Dead Sea and the Biblical areas allotted to Benjamin and Judah), and the camping trip to the mountains of southern Sinai. Each aspect of the Seminar had its special character, and sometimes, unexpected surprises.

The excavation experience was, of course, a highlight. Because we had our own dig and were not simply part of a larger group of volunteers, we received plenty of personal attention and instruction. One participant commented that the field staff “treated us with patience, courtesy and respect … not merely as earth-moving equipment … We felt like part of the archaeological team.” Another participant described Excavation Director Gaby Barkay as “intensely patient.” He was always ready to “update us on the latest chapter of the history of the site.”

Our field trips were organized around themes. For example, the field trip to the Biblical territory of Benjamin was devoted to the “Date and Archaeology of the Israelite Conquest.” Slide shows in the common room at the Sisters of Zion Hospice prepared the participants for the trip. After studying the slides, we followed in the footsteps of Joshua—from Jericho to Gilgal, then to Ai; at each site there were explanations and discussions of some of the archaeological and Biblical problems. For lunch we stopped at Nebi 056Samwil, the highest elevation point in Benjamin, next to a mosque where according to Moslem tradition the prophet Samuel is buried. From there the bus took us to El Jib, Biblical Gibeon, where we explored the pool of Gibeon and by the light of candles climbed the ancient shaft from the spring to the city above. From Gibeon—where the “sun stood still”—we followed the Beth Horon road where Joshua chased and routed the league of five kings. At the end of the day in which we lived the Biblical books of Samuel and Joshua, we arrived at Tel Gezer in time to watch the sun descend below the coastal plain.

The five-day Sinai trip took the group away from civilization to explore the delicately colored, wind-sculptured sandstone canyons of eastern Sinai; to climb Jebel Musa, the traditional mountain of Moses; and to observe the Bedouin living as people have lived in the desert since Biblical times. In the Sinai, the theme was, of course, the Exodus. During rest breaks, we read passages from the Bible and discussed problems of the Exodus narratives in light of the natural features of the Sinai desert.

Living arrangements during the six weeks of the Seminar varied from sleeping bags in the Sinai to dormitories in hospices in Jerusalem and the Galilee. Even a dormitory can be a very special place, however, in Jerusalem. Ours was built directly over Herod’s 2000-year-old Antonia Fortress. Just outside the door was the Via Dolorosa and from our rooftop garden and patios, we could see the domes and minarets of the Temple Mount. In the Galilee, we had our own hostel on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The view across the lake toward the Golan Heights was breathtaking in the soft light of dawn. At the end of a long day exploring historical and archaeological sites in the Galilee and Golan, we swam in a spring-fed pool on the grounds of our hostel.

We’re already looking forward to next summer’s Seminar. We anticipate that another enthusiastic group of BAR readers will be participating. College credit for two courses will again be available through the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. And we hope to continue work at our own dig in Jerusalem. You are all invited to come and join us.

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The following report was prepared by Jim (Yaakov) Fleming, BAR’s Jerusalem correspondent and Director of BAR’s Summer Seminar in Israel.