31
Jul, 2019

By William Branson

Tell Akko: Reflecting on the Importance of Teamwork

Participating in the Tell Akko archaeological field school has been a fantastic experience. The program provided is packed full of opportunities to learn. From the actual work up on the Tell to the lectures from many distinguished speakers of diverse backgrounds to the excursions every weekend, opportunities for growth as an individual are easily acquired. While all these wonderful ideas and opportunities are frequently expressed in many places already though, one facet less telegraphed is the opportunity to work here as part of a team with a clear objective.

While everyone will find their own personal friend groups and people they like to hang out with once here, ultimately living together for four weeks at the Nautical Academy in Akko really creates an atmosphere of unity and teamwork. Together at the Tell, we all strive towards the same goal, and we all also share that experience through the constant interaction off the Tell.

Upon arrival you are assigned two other roommates, every meal is set out at a regular specified time, you wash pottery (for many hours) collectively, you travel together on the bus, and you sit together listening to every lecture. Between the newcomers and the staff, almost everyone participates fully in each activity in some capacity. The first day here, Dr. Ann Killibrew explained how the staff attends every lecture because they truly do care about the program. After a month here, I can confidently say the sense you should get from the leadership is that this truly is a labor of love for them, and they work to support the dig and you in any way they can.

While there is certainly some friction occasionally (not everyone will get along with everyone), overall it is difficult not to feel the pressing unity of the program. The dig itself is just an inherently teamwork-oriented process, and the close proximity with your co-workers for the remainder of the day across the month just adds to the total feeling of everyone working towards the fulfilment of this singular goal.

For myself personally, this togetherness and sharing of a goal bigger than yourself eases the burden in a sense, and creates a way to feed off the energy and momentum of others. An obvious but under-appreciated point, the dig here at Akko would not exist if we could not come together as a cohesive unit. Finding success together as a team always feels sweeter, and the teamwork necessary here is an important aspect everyone should be aware of.

0
28
Jul, 2019

By Giovanni Flores

My first impressions of Archaeology as an Engineering student

My first week at Tel Akko has been an interesting and new experience. Coming into the program I knew there would be a significant amount of physical labor but the shape the labor would take was still a mystery for me. After this first week on the tel I realized that the labor was going to take the form of a lot of sweeping dirt and wheeling wheelbarrows. The work is quite intense and is a bit lackluster. However, it is still an enjoyable experience and there is always something to do which is perfect for my personality type. I was never bored or sitting idly around. The work environment is very relaxed and calm. On the tel you don’t feel like you are at a normal job, the supervisors don’t hover over you looking for more productivity. It is the opposite; they walk around making sure you have had enough water to drink and are resting when you need it. They try to have work conditions be favorable for people, meaning we work in the shade when the sun gets hot and deal with anything outside of the shade before the sun gets hot.

The dig site is not particularly efficient for getting work done but it is efficient as a learning environment ensuring that everyone gets a chance to participate in every job there is on the tel. Even though I am not an archaeology major or related field I am treated equally and am given equal learning opportunities. I just started actual excavation and it seems much more engaging than cleaning up the site. There is more thought required and more need to be gentle and careful while digging. The entire experience is enhanced because the people we dig with are all amazing and wonderful people to talk to and spend time with.

0
28
Jul, 2019

By Iraise Garcia

Survey:More Than Big Picks

Survey
Wheel barrel…check. Five big picks…check. Five turiyas…check. Fifteen smuggled buckets…check. It’s time for SURVEY!! At first glance, an archaeological survey can look like nothing more than numerous amounts of mysterious holes being dug up all day by individuals seeking grueling labor-intensive undertakings and the ability to swing a big pick. While there is a thrilling sensation in swinging a forged steel tool overhead and hurling it toward the ground, field survey is so much more than just big picks, holes, and brute force. Survey is a type of field research that archaeologists use to collect information about the location and organization of past human cultures across a large area.
First, we start by digging a small pit that is 40 centimeters by 40 centimeters by 40 centimeters on a grid every 5 meters across the site. In the first top 20 centimeters, we collect materials such as pottery sherds, shells, bones, glass beads and tabun ovens (if you’re Bryn), loom weights and cannons (if you’re Sugerman), rocks and walls (if you’re Iraise), pendants and Egyptian beads (if you’re Bret), and more pottery sherds (if you’re John Michael). A separate collection is made for the bottom 20 centimeters. These pits help archaeologists to get a general idea of which parts of the sites were occupied at specific periods. Through examining the pottery and unique finds in the pits, we can determine which material was used in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, or Persian Period.

Tel Akko started this process nine years ago, and every year a slice of the site is surveyed. In more recent years, the survey team has been able to understand what happened at the site after it was abandoned. The top 40 centimeters reveal how the site was used in the last 2,000 years after people moved away from the Tel. We get a sense of what people did on the Tel after they moved toward the coast and there was not a town directly on it. For example, there are traces of farmlands, vineyards, fruit orchards, and watchtowers, which are all discovered through hundreds of small holes in the ground.

After digging over 200 pits as a team, I would also add that not only does survey discover patterns in the distribution of materials in various cultural regions and historical periods, but when you survey you become part of a family. Every day we worked alongside each other, not just digging holes and discovering the past, but also sharing our life stories, joys, hardships, and plans for the future. I want to thank Michael Sugarman, Bret, and John Michael for inviting me into this incredible welcoming family. We dug, we laughed, we surveyed!
As stated by Jamie Quartermaine (the survey master), survey is not about building big muscles, but a revolutionary field that gives the world greater access to the discoveries of archaeology… and I would add, a time for long-lasting friendships.

1
27
Jul, 2019

By Paul Wilson

The Single Thing

 

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
– John Muir

My life has been a journey in and of itself, traveling the world, learning, listening, and absorbing all I can with those who walk similar paths. This trip has multiple facets I have experienced before, yet not altogether like this. The early mornings, gear checks, manual labor, and even the Middle Eastern weather. Tel Akko has taught me more though, and left me with curious questions that I do not plan on leaving unanswered. I started this blog with a quote and believe it to be true with Akko. Everything we uncover in this ancient soil lets us put together a query, to which no one is quite surety have a perfect answer. But each artifact shows us that Akko is indeed attached to the rest of the world in so many ways. I remember the first few days. I was a little hesitant towards liking this area, exploring my new temporary home. When I arrived here, I knew no one except some staff from Penn State University and I knew even less about the country or detailed history. Now as I plan to depart, I leave with friends, acquaintances, and a new perspective on the people and region of Akko and Israel. I am glad I tugged on that single thing, and I am even more humbled to see it attached to not only the excavation but the people on this amazing journey. They have come from all over and are willing to share their knowledge with each other. As a non-archaeologist on this dig, I feel I have also found a greater love for archaeology being in the field; not only seeing the history of it, but feeling it physically and metaphorically. I hope to return one day to this country, it’s people, and get more questions and fewer answers (as life has), which would only drive me more and more to follow through again and again. I hope I will be able to tug again at that single thing and learn how it is attached to the rest of the world here at Tel Akko.

 

0
26
Jul, 2019

By William Branson

The Taste of Dust & Smell of Dirt: Participating in Two Archaeological Field Schools 5500 Miles Apart

Last year during the summer of 2018, I took part in a four-week long dig over July and August, excavating on historic Huguenot St. in New Paltz, New York. The site where we dug was about 45 minutes away from my home, so every morning, Monday to Friday, I would leave my house around 5:45am and not return until nearly 3pm. This summer, I have been participating in a similar four-week long program over July in Akko, Israel, where the digging begins at a similar hour and ends just past mid-day as well.

Other than the time slots though, not much has been the same. While I certainly expected the two experiences to vary significantly, the differences in both feel and actual work differed almost completely and this caught me off-guard. While the proper techniques of the archaeological work varied of course, the most visceral difference between the two field schools I have felt has been in the experience of my senses, namely in taste and smell.

When I think back to the work I did last summer, one of the foremost things that comes to mind is the smell of the cool, fresh, and damp soil. I bought gloves for the dig, but hardly found myself using them. The dirt itself became a protective and hydrating layer over my hands. It became less of a nuisance and more of a comfort somehow. It was damp in such a pleasant way that few things achieve – and it is the smell of that dirt that stands out most in my memory of that time.

Conversely, for Akko, I find the taste of the dust is the easiest thing to recall, and expect this to be true for the future as well. At the sift, in the square, anywhere on site, the dust and sand blow everywhere. Upwind, downwind, with my head turned away, the dust always found its way into my mouth and across my face. As most people reading this will know, getting a face full of sand is about as unpleasant as it sounds. Given we excavate in one of the driest and hottest places on earth, during one of the driest and hottest times of the year, this should have been completely expected by me of course, but sometimes you just can’t prepare for everything.

That being said though, this was an experience I would never want to give back (face fulls of sand included). While the dust may be one of the first things that comes to mind in the future when I recall the dig here at Akko, the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on things I recall will be about all the great people I met and the times shared across the city, dining hall, pottery cage, lecture room, beaches, restaurants, field trips, and up on the Tell itself with all the dust. So while the smell of dirt will remain a comforting memory, the taste of dust will always be bittersweet.

 

 

 

0
24
Jul, 2019

By Casey Sennett

Finding My Home at Akko

I have always struggled with homesickness. Whether I am away from my parents for a night or a month, I typically suffer from separation anxiety. I thought, however, that I had outgrown that anxiety when I spent spring break this year studying abroad in Paris. Since I suffered no separation anxiety in Paris, I thought I could manage a longer study abroad experience this summer.

I managed to fly to Israel with no problems and spent hours in the Ben Gurion airport with no signs of anxiety; however, when I arrived at the Nautical Academy, I began to feel the separation and struggled to suppress my anxiety. I spent the first couple days at Akko missing my parents and American food dearly. I was not optimistic about my stay at Akko, I wanted nothing more than to go home to my parents and my cats. I knew, however, that I could not leave. I had committed to the program and I knew that I would never be able to travel the world and pursue my career aspirations if I could not spend time away from my parents.

I began to cope with the distance with long phone calls home and promises of taking me to Chili’s and to see Spiderman: Far From Home when I got home.  As the days went on, I began to feel more comfortable with the other students, participants, and faculty at Akko. I had been worried about coming to Akko and not knowing anyone, but most of the students and participants were in Israel for the first time and did not know anyone else in the group prior to coming to Israel.  I met a majority of the group at the airport, but I slowly began to meet and interact more with others at meals, on the Tel, during pottery washing, and on excursions in Akko and Israel. When you spend six hours a day in a square with someone or at least two hours a day washing pottery with someone you tend to learn a lot about them.

I was worried about not finding my place at Akko, but it found me. After the first couple of days I had not anticipated to be comfortable at Akko. I thought I had resigned myself to counting down the days until I could go home. I, however, reached outside of my comfort zone and began to meet and learn more about the other people in the program. Those interactions slowly began to make me feel less lonely and foreign. Although I do still miss home on occasion, I have become comfortable with everyone in the program and feel good about being away from home.

, , , , , 0
20
Jul, 2019

By Rebekah Call

The Call to Listen

The Call to Listen

I have heard the Call to Prayer (Adhan) many times in my life. While living in Jerusalem for two years, it was a normal part of my day. I rarely stopped to listen, perhaps because most of the mosques played a prerecorded version of the Adhan over cheap loudspeakers, making the Call a tinny, unintelligible whine. But Al-Jazzar mosque is the largest mosque in the Old City of Akko, and seems to not only use better speakers, but also to engage a real, living Muezzin. I immediately noticed the difference. The Muezzin’s voice is rich and full. I can identify individual words. All of the musical ornamentations are articulated clearly. He has turned the Adhan into a song of meditation. And now, instead of largely tuning it out, when the Adhan starts, I stop (whenever I can) and listen to this beautiful expression.

Since Akko is perhaps the best-preserved crusader city in the world, there has been an emphasis in my studies here on the crusades: what led to them, what happened during the crusades, and their aftermath. The crusades, in all their gory glory, are excellent examples of the danger of harboring fear and contempt toward different religions, races, or cultures. This is not a short-lived danger. True, the crusades ended over five centuries ago. But the effects of the crusades are still shaping our world today. The Crimean War was an ideological continuation of the fourth crusade (in which Western Christianity went to war against Eastern Christianity), and it in turn led to World Wars I and II (which significantly influenced the international scene today). I acknowledge that this is a gross oversimplification of hundreds of years of history. However, the point still stands that we continue to live with the repercussions of the crusades.

Would the tragedy of the crusades have happened if the Eastern and Western churches had really listened to each other? Or if Islam and Christianity had learned to not only notice, but to treasure the beauty of the other? Living in an ancient city and learning its history highlights similar challenges in our own time. But is much easier to identify the mistakes of the past than to create solutions for the future. As I think about the potential trajectories of society, it seems that an important step could be to listen and treasure the “others” among us, regardless of how different their backgrounds may be.

 

Al-Jazzar Mosque at sunset

The Old City at sunset

0
Tell Akko: Reflecting on the Importance of Teamwork
My first impressions of Archaeology as an Engineering student
Survey:More Than Big Picks
The Single Thing
The Taste of Dust & Smell of Dirt: Participating in Two Archaeological Field Schools 5500 Miles Apart
Finding My Home at Akko
The Call to Listen