Casting Call for the World’s Longest-Running Drama

“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare declared. Few places, however, provide a more dramatic backdrop for history making events than the Near East. Birthplace of the three major Western religions, much-traveled roadway for bloody conquerors and pious pilgrims alike, the jewel-in-the-crown of many an empire and also the undoing of those very same empires, the Near East overflows with history.

As a volunteer on a dig, you can play your part in one of the world’s most exciting productions: an archaeological excavation. Unlike the glittering stages of Broadway or London’s West End, however, the rich setting of the Near East is not reserved solely for international stars but open to people of all ages and backgrounds. No academic endeavor invites—indeed, relies on—the participation of just plain ordinary folks the way archaeology does. If Oscars were awarded in archaeology, no doubt the winners for Best Supporting Actor and Actress would be the volunteers who perform the basic duties upon which every dig depends.

Your accommodations, alas, will be nothing like a star’s dressing room; instead you will most likely have to make do with plain shelter and less-than-gourmet cooking. And if there will be no swooning fans waiting at the stage door for your autograph, at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your role, however humble, helps keep the drama of rediscovery running year after year.

Summaries of the sites, giving their historical significance and their connection with the Bible, follow. Here is your opportunity to bound out of your seat in the audience and take your place with the cast on stage. Curtain’s going up!