A Volunteer on the Road

Every dig site is different, and the way volunteers feel about the experience of digging is a very individual matter Here, Sara Aurant from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, shares her impressions with BAR readers—many of whom may be trying to answer that tantalizing question, “Is a dig for me?” Sara is an experienced volunteer who advanced to staff member at the City of David excavation. Now she is working with Gershon Edelstein of the Israel Department of Antiquities to develop the “open air museum” to be built around the Roman-Byzantine agricultural site at Ein Yael (Ein Yalu) near Jerusalem.—Ed.

“On the Jericho Road,
There’s room for just two,
No more or no less,
Just Jesus and you.”

The words of this song floated through my mind. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of water. The Dead Sea! Behind us were Mount Scopus and Jerusalem. Just above, the Arab village of Isawiya sprawled among the barren hills of Judea.

“This must be dug in the next couple weeks,” Gershon Edelstein, the director of the excavation, told us. “A new road will be built here going to that settlement, Ma’ale Adummim.” He pointed to a group of highrise apartments that seemed to be growing out of the stark hillside.

So here I was digging up an old Roman road to make room for a new one.

In Matthew 20:29, we are told that Jesus came up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. Could this be the road he traveled? Jericho is near the northern end of the Dead Sea. The Sea was barely visible on this hazy morning.