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By Rachel Strohl

Silver Lining Playbook

The Silver Lining Playbook. This little book has gotten me through many a stressful situations, and it came through again here in Akko. When I was preparing to come to Israel, I had come up with a research project for my scholarship grant. I worked for months with my professor, coming up with a plan that included me working with the archaeometallurgist here at Tel Akko. Archaeometallurgy, or the study of ancient metals and metal working techniques, has intrigued me for years, and I was so excited to come and work on a subject I was so passionate about.

However, when I stepped off the plane at Tel Aviv, my entire project fell upon its head. The specialist who was supposed to be working at Tel Akko was unexpectedly called off the dig, and would be in Jerusalem the entire project. I was freaking out. However, I pulled out my book of tricks and decided not to let the stress of my project get me down. I was here to learn, and I could still do that while not knowing what my project would be. So I threw myself into learning whatever I could. And in doing so, I was given amazing opportunities to talk to specialists, and I got first-hand experience in field archaeometallurgy. Due to this, when my amazing professors and I finally figured out a project, I felt completely and totally prepared for the academic challenge. This was my silver lining. I had become an amateur expert because instead of focusing on one project, I was absorbing as much information as I possibly could.

Despite learning all of this amazing information about archaeometallurgical practices here in Akko, I feel like I learned an even greater lesson. I learned how to adapt to situations I never thought I would be in. I learned to find the silver lining in a seemingly endless dark sky.

By Rachel Strohl

Dear Younger Me

By Rachel Strohl

The Joy of Understanding

Its 11:30 up on the Tel and you have found nothing all day. You’ve been beating at the ground only to be stopped by nothing but rocks and soil dumped by another archaeologist years ago, making anything found unusable for contextual information. And then it happens. You find something, perhaps an amphora jar handle, or some ivory carved piece. They say that there is no better feeling than this, uncovering an artefact in the field. However, I would counter that argument. To this amateur archaeologist, there is no better joy than the joy of understanding.

The joy of understanding comes from understanding what you are finding in the field. It’s the joy that comes from correctly identifying the type of vessel that a particular pottery sherd is from, or being able to tell slag, a byproduct of metal production, from plain rocks. Because when you understand, it means that you are starting to gain more and more knowledge in your field. You move from the grunt laborer to a respected person of knowledge.

I have wanted to teach for a long time now. I love academia and school more than anyone else I know. So when people started coming up to me with questions about what they were finding, I was delightfully surprised. People were coming to recognize my ability to identify objects in the field, and I was starting to realize my career dream. To me, there is nothing better than finally achieving something you have worked so hard for. And I believe that I am starting to see the fruits of my labor in school. My love for learning and understanding what is going on around me has come to manifest itself in the field, and my dream of being able to teach others has become a reality. So here I make the argument that the true joy of archaeology is not digging up some long-lost artefact, but being able to be a source of knowledge to those you dig with. The true joy is the joy of understanding.