Inside BAR

Help wanted: Each new year, archaeologists in the lands of the Bible seek, via the pages of BAR, able-bodied people to join their expeditions. In “Excavation Opportunities 1989,” a record number of excavations—28—at 27 sites in Israel and Jordan vie for volunteers. Our special annual section shows you a recent prize find and tells you all you need to know about each site—historical focus, cost, college credit, accommodations and more. Browse through the individual write-ups, do some comparative shopping in the 13-column chart, check out the map for the most suitable location. You might decide to join the hundreds of amateur archaeologists who, each summer, dig—or dive—into the past to bring Biblical archaeology to light. Lois Sargent read our dig section in 1987 and, with some trepidation, decided to join the excavation team at Ashkelon, on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. “Turning the pages of a book had always been my idea of exercise,” she writes; she nevertheless resolved that she would “find some way to cope with the heavy work and grueling schedule.” Sargent shares the trials and the thrills of a volunteer archaeologist in “First Hand: A Poet at Ashkelon.”

A published poet whose work has won numerous awards, Sargent holds degrees in psychology and community counseling. She has worked as team leader in a psychiatric hospital, program director in a nursing home and teacher of emotionally disturbed children.