This week’s 13-minute program of “The Book and the Spade” gives overviews of several excavations planned for this spring and summer. Among those mentioned are:
- Ashkelon (ongoing excavations headed by a team from Harvard)
- Khirbet el-Maqatir (possible site of Ai)
- Bethsaida (hometown of Peter and Andrew; possible hometown of Absalom’s mother in OT times)
and my personal favorite…
- Khirbet Qeiyafa ([Quote from the program: The site dates to “a time of intense archaeological interest right now… What’s being found here may well inform the debate over the 10th century [the time of King David] in years ahead. This is a very interesting and significant archaeological site…”)
The program notes that most volunteers at these and other sites tend to be college students and “older, retired people.” I certainly don’t fall in either category (though I am currently in a graduate program) but I was able to excavate for three weeks last summer. You can do it as well. Want to come to Khirbet Qeiyafa with me this summer?