Mark your calendar for the 2020 season excavations at Tel Dan

Excavation Directors

Dr. David Ilan, Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem
Dr. Yifat Thareani, Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem
Dr. Jonathan Greer, Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary

Dates

June 26-July 23, 2020

Conditions and amenities

Minimum 2 week, residence at the Mt. Hermon Field School: generally 2-3 volunteers per room, a/c, laundry, internet access, hiking trails.  Field trips will take place one afternoon each week.  Weekend trips can be organized upon request.

Fees

  • Registration: $100 (deadline May 1, 2020, candidates who are not accepted will have this fee returned)
  • 2 weeks (one weekend) $1180
  • 3 weeks (two weekends) $1770
  • 4 weeks (three weekends) $2200
  • 5 weeks (four weekends) $2600

Credit course

Includes four lectures a week and one field trip (the 3 credit course requires a minimum of 4 weeks participation). The tuition fee for this course is $500.

Checks should be made out to: “Hebrew Union College”

Goals of the 2020 season:

  1. We will continue digging in Area B, into the early Iron Age levels (circa 1200-1000 BCE), to flesh out the architectural plans and to facilitate spatial analysis of houses and neighborhoods, to understand lifestyle, economy, social identity (ethnicity) and political organization.  We are especially interested in retrieving carbonized grain from the Strata V and IVA destruction levels and to submit them for C14 dating (we have dates from wood, but the wood might already have been old when the town was destroyed).
  2. We will continue digging in the new area in the center of the site, Area L, in the 8th cent. BCE levels destroyed in an earthquake.  What does a town look, one minute before disaster strikes?  How to people react to such a catastrophe? We will also be emphasizing “household archaeology” here. Is the earthquake mentioned in the book of Amos (Chapter 1)?

Daily schedule:

  • 5:00    wake-up
  • 5:30    transport to site
  • 5:45    begin work
  • 8:30    breakfast (on site)
  • 11:00  short break
  • 13:00  back to kibbutz for lunch and rest
  • 16:30  pottery washing
  • 18:00  lecture
  • 19:00  dinner
  • 20:00   free (occasional lecture or film)

Field trips: Banias, Amrit Temple, Nimrod’s castle, Snir River Trail, Maayan Baruch Museum, Hazor, Ateret Fortress, Lake Hula Swamps, Beit Ussishkin Visitor Center.

For more information

Ms. Levana Zias
Hebrew Union College,
13 King David St.,
Jerusalem 94101 Israel
TEL +972.2.620.3257
FAX +972.2.625.1478
Mail: ngsba@huc.edu

Dr. Jonathan Greer
Cornerstone University
1001 E. Beltline Ave NE l Grand Rapids, MI 49525
TEL +1 (616) 949-5300
Mail: jonathan.greer@cornerstone.edu