Tourists get a "feel" for Israel's rich history.
By Janet Mendelsohn Moshe
Sifting through the pottery shards, hands full of dirt and rubble, is the best way to understand the contribution of different civilizations to history, claims archeologist Ian Stern, one of the directors of Archaeological Seminars Ltd. based in Jerusalem's Old City. "Even the
uninitiated can take part in our excavations, which aim to 'personalize' the past," he says.
A licensed tour guide, Stern has long been concerned with presenting different periods of history in a unique way. In the twenty years since Archaeological Seminars was founded, it has initiated visitors from all over the world into the 'underground life' of Israel. Licensed and supervised by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the company organizes groups of tourists, arms them with picks, shovels and buckets, and instructs them in the art of digging at an archeological site.
In addition to digging, Archaeological Seminars, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, offers tours in their center. Audio-visual aids and maps are used in an introductory lecture, which helps put the time periods in perspective. In order to help illustrate the contribution of archeology to interpreting history, a pottery vessel is shown to the family or tour group. When it "accidentally" drops on the floor, rather than being dismayed, the guide uses the opportunity to explain what a pottery shard is, and how even a tiny fragment can be used to identify a period or style of pottery or a roofing tile.
Members of a recent group of students from the United States were ecstatic about their day in the dirt at Tel Maresha. One of a line of fortress cities built in the Iron Age (1200-1000 BCE), the city was abandoned and rebuilt many times over hundreds of years until a tel - a large mound of earth - was formed. Excavating this mound layer by layer helps archeologists to reconstruct the area's history. "Tens of thousands of tourists have helped us dig at Tel
Maresha", explains Stern, "but the surface has barely been scratched."
Tel Maresha has hundreds of man-made caves, formed when stone was quarried out from the site. The resulting pits were used as cellars or plastered and used as water cisterns. Today they are ideal for amateur archeologists because they are pleasantly cool and protected in
the hot Israeli summer, and they also allow a lengthened winter season for excavating.
The group was led down to a cave already prepared with lighting and ladders for the volunteers. After poking, prodding and carefully digging, the buckets of dirt were carried out of the cave. While they were being sifted and sorted, the participants were able tour the site. After all the findings were logged and reported to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the volunteers were allowed to take home shards from the 'discard' pile.
"We actually found ancient coins and shards," exclaims Josh, a 19-year-old University of Florida sophomore. "Even though we were told we might find something, when I uncovered a Roman jar handle I felt like I had won the lottery."