Dig Scholarship Winners

Nothing brings the excavation experience to life like hearing from volunteers—everyday people who finally decided to make their dreams of going on a real archaeological excavation come true. Here two of our 26 Dig Scholarship winners from 2009—a second-grade teacher and mother of five and an enthusiastic archaeology student—share their stories as first-time volunteers. From skeletal remains to sewage drains, they never knew what they’d be working on next.

A Far Cry from My Vegetable Garden

Linda D. Perkins

In June of 2009, I took off on an unexpected adventure. As a young adult I had always wanted to go on an archaeological dig, but a military husband and five children pushed that dream into the far crevices of my mind. After the death of my husband, I began teaching elementary school and found myself creating fun ways to teach science and history to second graders. I decided that I wanted to learn about archaeology first hand on a dig site and incorporate this into my second-grade teaching of science, history and the Bible. Several weeks later I was signing my name to work with Dr. Jerry Mattingly and the Karak Resources Project in Jordan.