Michael M. Homan is associate professor of theology at Xavier University in New Orleans and has spent several seasons working on the excavation at Tel Zeitah [Zayit] in the Shephelah. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, he was among the countless New Orleans residents whose lives were forever changed when the levees broke and thousands of homes were flooded. He and his family are back in New Orleans now, rebuilding their house and their community. In an article on the Web site of the Society of Biblical Literature (excerpted below), Homan described how this experience made him a better archaeologist.
What I witnessed firsthand in New Orleans the days following Katrina, cause me to think quite a bit about my work as a Near Eastern archaeologist. Archaeologists by nature love destruction. The bigger and more widespread the detritus, the better. Many of the famous strata in Biblical archaeology, including Lachish III, Hazor XIII, Megiddo VIIA, and Gezer VIII, were all ended and sealed by massive destructions. Similarly, much of my work in the field deals with destruction. At Zeitah, we have several examples from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages of “very bad days.” So I count myself among the many who’ve benefited personally and professionally from someone else’s very bad day.
Eleven thousand kilometers and 3,000 years separate my New Orleans from tenth-century B.C.E. Zeitah—and yet, I am drawn to their parallels. I’ve experienced firsthand the destruction of a city and the pain of exile. I witnessed death, and when I see the many lingering signs of New Orleans’ destruction, I don’t take them lightly. It is important to me that the story of what transpired in New Orleans be recorded as accurately and objectively as possible. From this experience, I better understand how we owe it to the people who suffered tragedy long ago to do our best at excavating—as we get only one shot at it—and we need all of these clues to tell their important story accurately.
Michael M. Homan is associate professor of theology at Xavier University in New Orleans and has spent several seasons working on the excavation at Tel Zeitah [Zayit] in the Shephelah. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, he was among the countless New Orleans residents whose lives were forever changed when the levees broke and thousands of homes were flooded. He and his family are back in New Orleans now, rebuilding their house and their community. In an article on the Web site of the Society of Biblical Literature (excerpted below), Homan described how this experience made […]
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