Yep, it’s 3:30 am and the wakeup call comes, or you jump up to your own alarm. You’re in Israel, it’s summertime, and you’re headed out to an archaeological excavation. Breakfast is at 4:00 am and before you know it, you’re on the bus, traveling to the site. Most of us have backpacks that we’ve prepared the night before.
Grab it and go.
A lot of items are provided by the excavation directors and staff: shovels, pickaxes, buckets, sifting screens, surveying equipment…. But your own pack is important, too.
Who ever said that digging the Bible was easy? It’s scientific, exacting, heavy manual labor often undertaken in the dust and heat with temps topping 110 degrees F in some locales.
So, in my backpack, this is what I stash: wide brimmed sunhat (better than a cap or scarf for protecting neck/nose/ears!), sunscreen & sometimes mosquito repellent (each counteracts the other, so sun protection is more important), scarf or bandanna for the neck (or for tourniquets just in case someone falls off the tel…), sunglasses, kneeling pad, compass, field notebook & mechanical pencils, a couple of pens & Sharpies, extra paper artifact bags and a few small plastic bags, clipboard & excavation forms or grid paper for to-scale drawing, measuring tape (meters & centimeters in Israel), disinfectant wipes, kleenex (for bathroom stops on the other side of the rocks! or the porta-potty if you’re well-funded), gum, a cooler with bottles of water & lunch, cell phone in a bag, my pointed trowel (Marshalltown) and small pick, bandaids!!!, leather gloves or rubber-palmed gloves, flashlight, rubber bands, bubble line level with string & nails, extra plastic bags for dirty tools, small whisk broom (to clean excavation squares for photos – not all digs allow sweeping), flagging tape in different colors, maybe carabiners for clipping extra items to the pack. A bungee cord, not so much. A knife never hurts. A rain poncho could be helpful during seasons other than summer in the Middle East. It sounds like a lot, but those are the basics.
Most of the time, I wear long pants (not always cargo, not always jeans—to burst a stereotype), a long-sleeved shirt, sometimes over a t-shirt, a field jacket or vest with many pockets, lightweight but rugged boots. And of course the hat and scarf.
If I ever gave up on Biblical archaeology, I could pass for an professional bee-keeper-! I’d just need the netting over a pith helmet-!
Gotta think on that one….
What else? Anything missing?
A Bible, of course!
All is still dark at the site by the time we arrive. It’s not even pre-dawn. But soon enough, glimmers of gorgeous color streak across the sky, announcing the sun’s soon ascent. Another day dawns in the field as Biblical realities come to light.
Good morning, Lord. Here we go….
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