BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

The Young Meet the Old

Israeli Youths Dig into Bronze Age Tel Esur

Over 500 youth volunteers joined the excavations at Tel Esur, on the western edge of Israel’s Wadi Ara region. Photo from the University of Haifa

The third season of excavations at Tel Esur exposed a diverse array of discoveries including 14th-century B.C.E. figurines, Canaanite fortifications and an Iron Age administrative structure. The multi-period site is well suited for its multi-generational excavation team: Over 500 Israeli youths joined University of Haifa archaeologists in Israel’s largest community archaeological dig.

A University of Haifa press release emphasizes the complimentary educational and archaeological goals of the project. Students engage with their local history while developing teamwork skills, and instead of teaching in a staged classroom exercise, the students make a direct contribution to our understanding of the site’s history. The youth team exposed strata from as early as the Middle Bronze Age (19th-16th centuries B.C.E.), and have uncovered large-scale public architecture, domestic structures and unique small finds, including a Late Bronze Age Egyptian scarab from the 14th century B.C.E. The University of Haifa announced that this year “9th-grade students from schools in the surrounding area – secular and religious, Jewish and Muslim – participated in the excavations, as did other volunteers from Israel, Italy, USA, UK, and Poland.”

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1 Responses

  1. Ric Lotfinia says:

    The full length article, (see read more link) carries some interesting comments by a couple of 9th graders.

    I greatly appreciate the news of a Bronze Age period excavation.

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1 Responses

  1. Ric Lotfinia says:

    The full length article, (see read more link) carries some interesting comments by a couple of 9th graders.

    I greatly appreciate the news of a Bronze Age period excavation.

Write a Reply or Comment

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