An Adventure of a Lifetime
John Rinks, 2023 Stevan B. Dana Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient
When I was a young boy, I dug holes in my parent鈥檚 backyard. I鈥檓 pretty sure I wasn鈥檛 expecting to find anything. I just liked to dig. I also read books about pirates and buried treasure. When asked, I would say my plan when I grew up was to find pirate treasure buried on remote Caribbean islands.
John holding two tourias.
Being a volunteer on an excavation in Israel is the grownup version of that young boy鈥檚 dream. Spoiler alert: the experience surpassed my expectations, and I am obsessed with it.
Going on 鈥渁 dig鈥 starts way before the long plane ride. For me, it meant going to the gym every day after work to get (and stay) in shape. I鈥檓 63-years old, with a desk job, and didn鈥檛 want to be that 鈥渙ld guy鈥. I wanted to pull my weight and show the young grad students what hard work looks like. To wield a pickaxe and turia tirelessly for extended hours in 95-degree F heat. To 鈥渂ucket-chain鈥 over 1,000 buckets of dirt out of the excavation area every day without breaking a sweat (that鈥檚 an exaggeration 鈥 I sweated plenty).
Not everyone on the dig team started out as gung-ho as me. Some of the college kids didn鈥檛 have manual labor experience. But it didn鈥檛 take long for them to ramp up. It鈥檚 pretty awesome to see twenty-something guys and gals quickly learn how to dig. How hard can it be? Of course, anybody can 鈥渄ig鈥. What I鈥檓 talking about is next level. Like, listening to the sound the pickaxe head makes when it hits the ground. Or feeling that difference flow up through the shaft handle to your hands. Was that soft dirt, hard dirt, mudbrick, pottery, stone, or an artifact? I鈥檓 totally serious. It鈥檚 a real thing.
One surprise is the focus of the dig director and supervisors at my site to make everyone鈥檚 experience a great one. Volunteers get training, mentoring, and meaningful assignments. First timers are not relegated to menial tasks. One of my roommates was in his thirties and has a desk job like me back in the States. He used his entire three weeks of annual vacation time to be a volunteer on the dig. He loved it.
John standing above his square after 6 weeks of digging.
There are side benefits too. Being on a dig isn鈥檛 just that three week or six-week session. It turns into a life experience. Not just the memory aspect of it. It can motivate you to care more about your physical condition and health. You make friends from all over the world and stay in contact on social media. It makes you more interesting to your family and friends, having unique stories to tell and pictures to share. If you read the Bible or history books it gives you 鈥淚 was there鈥 pictures in your mind of the real thing.
Did we find cool stuff? Of course. Ancient walls and plastered floors 鈥 from thousands of years ago. A 3,500-year-old bronze axe head. Ceramic jugs and bowls. A pottery sherd with an Egyptian hieroglyph. A cylinder seal. Large threshold stones leading into a temple 鈥 carved from volcanic basalt. And on and on.
One of my favorite pictures from this summer at Tel Hazor Lower City is of me standing above the 鈥渉ole鈥 I helped dig in six weeks. By itself, the picture isn鈥檛 amazing. But when I tell the people I show it to that we started at ground level in the year 2023, and six weeks and nine feet later it was the year 1750 BC more than 3,700 years ago 鈥 it becomes amazing! Lots of people like movies and books about time travel; sitting comfortably watching a movie or reading a book. I was there. I touched the stones and artifacts. I time traveled. Words cannot adequately express this phenomenon. You鈥檒l just have to go to a dig one of these summers and see for yourself.
Today I鈥檓 writing this report back home in Colorado. When I finish it, I鈥檒l be heading to the fitness gym to work out because the countdown app on my phone says 299 days from now I will be flying from Denver to Tel Aviv because I鈥檓 going back. I can hardly wait to see what our team is going to find next summer. Maybe I鈥檒l see you there.