Scholarship Winner

By Kristina Neumann

This past summer, with the help of some very generous donors, the Biblical Archaeology Society was able to help 27 volunteers from all walks of life—students, teachers, laymen and preachers—fulfill their dreams of working on an archaeological excavation. Their experiences varied; some had their work cut short by the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, some kept digging, others went home. We asked them to send us reports on their experiences, and most were more than happy to share their summer memories with us. All the essays can be read at our Web site at www.findadig.com/DigsEssays. One, however, seemed to capture the thrill, and concern, of an archaeological dig in the middle of a war zone. Our winning essay comes from Kristina Neumann, who joined Arthur Segal and his team at Hippos/Sussita in July.

When I first looked down into the cistern that would be my excavation project at the Northeast Church at Hippos/Sussita last summer, I could not have anticipated what the next two weeks would hold. Instead, as I gazed into the darkened, cobweb-infested hole, I pondered this Byzantine church of unremarkable architecture but extraordinary contents. Two tombs lay in the chancel of the church. The first one held the body of a sainted elderly woman with the means for continual veneration,¹ and the second contained three bodies, including that of a young boy. None of their identities was known.