BAR Jr.: Young Archaeologist Strikes Pay Dirt

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The first time I took my children on a dig, they were 13 and 11. Usually, you don’t find many children on a dig because there are no facilities for them and they might be out-of-place. Nevertheless, I thought they might be old enough to enjoy the experience. Besides, the excavation camp was next to Kibbutz Lahav, where Jonathan, our eldest child, was born.

Jonathan was a little apprehensive as the day approached; his sister Orly, however, was looking forward to it. Jonathan was afraid that he might get bored with the whole thing after two weeks, but Orly anticipated having a good time, especially with older people (“older” meaning college age). Jonathan took with him a backpack-full of books; Orly armed herself with sunscreen and suntan lotions.

We arrived at the site two weeks before the season was to start. Our camp had to be pitched, facilities had to be built and preparations put in place. Both children helped.

When we officially opened the season, Orly decided to work with me; Jonathan decided to stay as far away from me as possible. I was working in Field III, at the western end of the tell, so Jonathan worked in Field II, at the top of the tell, on the acropolis. Jonathan was very interested in World War II, and his Area Supervisor and another team member were both World War II buffs. So all day long, while digging, they discussed World War II, its battles, its generals, and its history. Jonathan developed such loyalty to his team that he ended up working just as hard as everyone else, and sometimes even harder. From Field III, I could see him pushing an overloaded wheelbarrow to the edge of the tell, where he dumped the excavated dirt. Every morning, at four o’clock, he was up and ready to go to work. Whenever photographs were taken early in the morning and the team was supposed to be cleaning and getting the area ready, Jonathan was there although it meant he had to wake up at 3:00 or 3:30 a.m. In the afternoon, he cleaned and washed pottery.

The unfortunate thing was that he was assigned to an area that was completely occupied by a rather uninteresting ancient pit from the Persian period. Most of the pit was filled with ash and other refuse. But Jonathan was not discouraged. He continued to dig and brush the ash. He was excited by every little find even if it was just a bone or a little piece of pottery. He developed an interest in identifying pottery, and in the afternoon after washing pottery, he would observe pottery “reading”—the identification of pottery by date. I asked 051Jonathan if he wanted to come out and work with me in Field III, where we were continuously discovering exciting finds, but he declined and remained with his team.

His loyalty was finally rewarded. After spending most of the season in ash ankle deep, he was sent to work in an adjoining square. And there he made his great discovery: a bulla.

A bulla (pl. bullae) is a clay seal used on papyrus or parchment official documents. After a document was written and rolled or folded, a piece of rope or other material was tied around it to keep the document closed. To ensure that the rope would not be untied by the wrong person, a lump of clay was attached to the ends of the rope thus binding them. An official seal was then used to make an impression in the wet clay thereby assuring the sender that the bulla would not be broken by other than the intended recipient of the document. Two kinds of seals were used in antiquity: a stamp seal and a cylinder seal. A stamp seal pressed into the clay left its impression in it. A cylinder seal rolled over the clay and left an elongated impression. Since seals were also used to indicate ownership, they were also used on items such as pottery. The modern use of wax and a stamp seal on official documents or letters is similar to that of the ancient clay bulla.

Jonathan, of course, knew nothing about bullae before he found one. He was digging away, carefully throwing each potsherd into a bucket. At the time, he failed to notice anything special about the lump of clay he found. He simply tossed it into the bucket with the rest. During the afternoon pottery washing he, quite by accident, picked up the same bucket he had filled that morning.^a While he was washing the potsherds, one by one, he suddenly recognized that the rough lump of clay was not an ordinary piece of pottery. He examined it carefully and saw a scene impressed in the clay: A group of people wearing tall, pointed headgear was shown dancing around a tree, possibly a stylized representation of “the tree of life.” On the bulla’s reverse side an impression caused by the rope or thong used for tying the document was visible. Jonathan noticed the unusual features of the clay and immediately took it to the dig director, who confirmed its importance.

Usually, when a substantial find is made, the Field or Area Supervisor of the pertinent area gets the honor of announcing it during dinner. In this case, however, the director decided to surprise Jonathan and give this honor to him that night. When the time came, he was asked to come forward to tell the story; it was then discovered Jonathan was not in the dining shed. No one knew where he was. So the whole excavation team, about 60 people, started calling Jonathan’s name. Jonathan, who was in his tent, fast asleep, woke up startled by the shouting of his name. Not knowing what had happened, he hurried to the dining shed. There he told his story of the finding of the bulla.

The first time I took my children on a dig, they were 13 and 11. Usually, you don’t find many children on a dig because there are no facilities for them and they might be out-of-place. Nevertheless, I thought they might be old enough to enjoy the experience. Besides, the excavation camp was next to Kibbutz Lahav, where Jonathan, our eldest child, was born. Jonathan was a little apprehensive as the day approached; his sister Orly, however, was looking forward to it. Jonathan was afraid that he might get bored with the whole thing after two weeks, but Orly […]