First Person: Documenting Dirt and Diggers—Is There Room for a Pretty Face?

If it’s January, then it must be the Dig Issue. For the last 18 years, BAR has reserved the first issue of every year to showcase archaeological expeditions in the Holy Land. As each issue rolls around, the editors and designers try to put a fresh spin on the material. There’s a lot of basic information to convey and interesting finds to describe. This year we have reorganized the content to make the site profiles more interesting to read, and we have reworked the dig chart to be more informative.

So much for gathering the details; it’s finding great images that’s hard. After all, BAR readers expect our photography to put them “at the scene” and in the picture. Volunteers on a dig are the first to see an amazing mosaic, preserved for centuries under a cloak of ancient debris, or a cleverly crafted piece of jewelry lovingly added to a funereal arrangement waiting alongside its owner to be uncovered. But beautiful artifacts, later revealed by careful cleaning and painstaking reconstruction, can look pretty much like a clump of rock when first spied in situ—most finds are far from beautiful.

So, faced with the reality of stones, sherds, pots, dirt and the detritus of centuries of habitation, all jumbled together, how do you picture the drama of history? Where is the romance, the adventure? Volunteers actually pay for the opportunity to do the work, so there must be something going on.