Excavations Continue Despite Political Turmoil

It shows up again and again in the accounts of those who have worked on an excavation: the incomparable thrill of touching the past. Whether they are unearthing the remains of homes and burial sites or examining the tools, pottery and jewelry used by the ancients, sooner or later dig veterans and novices alike feel a jolt of connection to the vanished civilizations of the Bible lands. As an example, John Raab, a 2002 BAS dig scholarship recipient, writes poignantly about realizing, as he was carefully dismantling a wall of a house at Tall al-‘Umayri, that more than two millennia ago someone had painstakingly built it in the same way that Raab was taking it down, stone by stone.

But is it safe to join a dig this year? Although dig directors who have been out in the field report that local residents welcome them and that there is no trace of a threat to dig participants, popular perceptions of danger in the Middle East have made this a difficult time to choose to join a dig. It’s a decision you’ll have to make for yourself.

We hope that, whether you decide to go now or later, the stories that the exceptionally dedicated volunteers have contributed to this issue of BAR inspire you to enroll in a dig—and discover for yourself how it feels to touch the past.