Strata: Milestone: R. Thomas Schaub (1933–2015)

Priest, Bible scholar, archaeologist, professor, husband, father—so R. Thomas Schaub progressed through life.

Last October, he passed away at age 82.

Schaub was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he taught Palestinian archaeology, Biblical studies and world religions for 30 years. He also codirected the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan with Walter Rast, Professor Emeritus at Valparaiso University.

Schaub and Rast excavated the Early Bronze Age sites of Bab adh-Dhra’ and Numayra, both located on the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea. Some have identified these sites with Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, whose fiery destruction is described in Genesis 19. Even before they excavated Numayra, Schaub and Rast could tell that it had been burned—due to the spongy charcoal found over the ground.^a Excavations confirmed that the city had met a fiery end.

Schaub’s introduction to the field of archaeology was at Bab adh-Dhra’. At the time, he was a priest in the Dominican order and studying at the École Biblique in Jerusalem. Dr. Paul Lapp, who was then the director of Bab adh-Dhra’, invited him to excavate at the site. This invitation dramatically altered Schaub’s life. Not only did he gain a lifelong interest in archaeology, but he also met Marilyn McNamara—his future wife.