Israel’s annual archaeological dig

By Danielle Max

HappyNews Citizen Journalist

Digging on hands and knees in the blazing July sun is not everyone's idea of a summer vacation. But for the volunteers at Tel Hazor in Northern Israel, it's the perfect get away.

Each year, hundreds of foreign tourists flock to Israel to participate for six weeks in archaeological digs throughout the country. Some are students taking part in expeditions to fulfil course credits or to obtain much needed field experience; others are older, self-defined archaeology devotees getting their yearly dose of history.

At Tel Hazor, which lies in the Upper Galilee, no matter their age or background, everyone shares the burden of clearing masses of dirt and shifting heavy buckets of earth— all helping to uncover the long buried secrets of Israel's most important biblical site.

The volunteers rise before dawn and, still half asleep, board the bus, which takes them from their hotel to the tel (a mound consisting of superimposed archaeological layers) to begin another day's hard work.

The six-week dig is almost over, and though some interesting finds have been uncovered, the whereabouts of the elusive Hazor archive are still unknown. With each passing day, the likelihood of finding the archives this season grows dimmer. No one says anything, but everyone knows that the next strike of the pickaxe could yield the written secrets of the site.

This is the second season that Steve Dana, 59-year-old owner of a publishing company from Washington DC, has dug at Hazor. "I've been interested in archaeology since I was in college—specifically in the history of ancient Israel," said Dana. "I've been studying it personally at home for a long time and decided to get more involved in it a couple of years ago."

Dana, who has also worked on digs in Virginia, Arizona and Ohio, has found little of interest this year. "The most interesting thing I've found is an Iron-Age spear point," he admitted with a shrug. Two years ago, however, on his first visit to the site, he opened up a wall and found a small jug that had been placed there 4000 years ago."

Dana's wife, Marian, is also digging at the site. Due to fears about the security situation in Israel, she did not accompany her husband on his first trip to Hazor two years ago but insists that this time, she had no such concerns—a view echoed by all the volunteers.

Though she is a regular volunteer at Paleo-Indian sites close to her home, Marian Dana is finding the work at Hazor quite physically demanding. "I am finding it hard work, but they adjust the level of difficulty to you. I'm not out there with a pickaxe and shovel. I'm in an area where I'm using smaller tools. Even so," she confided, "I have more muscles where I didn't think I had muscles."

Despite the difficulties of daily digging and shifting vast amounts of earth, Dana has no regrets about spending her summer working in Israel. "Regardless of what piece of pottery you pick up, somebody used it," she stated. "It's just amazing that you are handling things that are that old."

Crsiti Tepes, 47, from Bucharest, walks around the site wielding a video camera. He is busy making a documentary for Romanian national television about the Romanian volunteers who are working at Hazor. Tepes spends most of his time filming, but he occasionally puts his camera aside, picks up a shovel and joins in the dig.

Of all the volunteers, Tommy Amit has the least distance to travel. Amit lives on Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, just down the road from Hazor. The spry 77-year-old is originally from Germany but came to live in Israel 57 years ago. Before he emigrated, he lived in England, having escaped from Germany in 1939, just prior to the outbreak of World War II. He moved to England as part of the 'kindertrasnport', an organisation that saved young Jewish children from the Holocaust by bringing them to live in England.

Amit described himself as an archaeology buff who has been taking part in digs for the past 30 years. "About 20 years ago, I decided to stick to digs nearer home. This is my eight or ninth year at Hazor," he said, not stopping his work.

Amit doesn't let his age stop him from putting in a full day's work at the site and greets the question of how he manages with incredulity. "I do what I can", he stated. "I'm still pretty fit but I don't suppose it gets any easier as time goes on. I still work on the kibbutz as an all round fixer, specialising in renovating furniture and carpentry."

For a time Amit was also a tour guide. "It was interesting," he said, "but I had the feeling of being a customer of history. Now, working at Hazor, I feel more attached to it as a giver."

As Hazor comes to a close, it is no doubt that the archaeological dig offers a true feeling of history for some.

Tel Hazor is the largest and richest archaeological site in Israel. Situated over 200 acres in the Upper Galilee, Hazor consists of two sections- the 170 acre fortified lower city, containing dwellings and public buildings and a 30-acre acropolis.

This story was produced by Happynews Citizen Journalist, Danielle Max. Max is a freelance writer living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

For more information on contributing to Happynews, click here.