Gulf War Slows Holy Land Digs

“It’s not going to be a banner year,” says archaeologist Eric Meyers about this summer’s excavation season in Israel. Volunteers play an important role in excavations mounted by American and Israeli archaeologists, explains Meyers, president of the American Schools of Oriental Research, the organization that oversees American involvement in Middle Eastern archaeology. But this year, at about the time volunteers usually make their summer plans, there was a war on.

“It was very difficult, with Scud missles falling on Tel Aviv, to try to get parents to say, ‘Oh yes, my son or daughter can go on this excavation in Israel,’ ” laments John Laughlin of Averett College.

Averett and the four other American schools participating in the excavation at Banias (called Caesarea Philippi in the New Testament) scrubbed their plans for this summer. The excavation will have a limited amount of Israeli participation and will try to get back on schedule next year.

Tel Mikne, a joint U.S.-Israeli project on the site of the Philistine city of Ekron, was canceled completely. Work continues at Caesarea, the port city created by King Herod on the Mediterranean coast, and at the ancient Philistine port of Ashkelon. Officials of both projects reported their U.S. volunteers number about half of what they had last year.

Last year an Ashkelon excavator turned up a 3,600-year-old, four-inch-tall silver calf idol. Does this year’s volunteer shortage mean it is less likely something as memorable will be uncovered? Perhaps, say experts. But archaeology is not the kind of science that advances on a regular schedule.

“You can be digging for weeks and the only thing you accomplish is the loss of a few pounds,” explains Pat Kilcoyne from the Harvard University headquarters of the Ashkelon expedition. “And then the next couple of shovels of earth are moved and there’s something there.” One possible benefit of the slowdown, experts say, is that it will give scholars time to write and publish their findings from earlier field work.

Archaeologists are also still trying to calculate the impact of the Persian Gulf War on remnants of ancient civilizations in Iraq. Before the fighting started, many expressed alarm at the danger to irreplaceable artifacts that dot Mesopotamia, home to the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, some of humanity’s earliest civilizations.

The May/June issue of Archaeology magazine detailed damage to several sites and to the Iraq museum in Baghdad, based on information sent to New York-based archaeologist Selma al-Radi from a sister in Iraq. However, American Schools president Meyers says he is relieved that the extent of the damage had been “kept in check.”

“I think early reports of extensive damage have been exaggerated,” he says. “There has been very little damage to [most] archaeological sites, as far as we can tell. The Baghdad Museum is apparently intact.”

Sites such as Nineveh in northern Iraq, where tensions still exist between Iraqi forces and the Kurdish population, remain at risk. And the end of fighting does not always end the threat to the artifacts. A Knight-Ridder newspaper report said some soldiers have been playing amateur archaeologist, digging up pots and urns to take home with them. A complaint by Iraq to the United Nations led to a U.S. military ban on excursions to the ancient ziggurat at Ur and other sites.

By Gordon Govier.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Voting with Your Checkbook: What Every Christian Should Know about Boycotts

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from August 19, 1991

A Response: Taking off the Blinders

A Response: Provoking the Establishment

A Response: Tarring Christian Evolutionists

Book Feature: A Professor Takes Darwin to Court: A New Book Mounts a Credible Challenge to Evolution’s Sweeping Claims

Anything but Boredom!: Half the Sins of Humankind Are Caused by the Fear of Boredom. But Boredom Can Be the Path to Holiness as Well

Parental Choice: Will Vouchers Solve the School Crisis?

Lost in the Mystical Myths

Ministry: Giving Black Families a Boost

Taking on TV’s Bad Boys

When Sportcasters Fumble

Editorial

Really Good Sex

Love ‘By Blood’ in a Uganda Prison

Not Quite Prime Time

Letters

A Methodist in Whom There Is No Guile

Religion, Abortion Key Issues in Court Nomination

Moscow: Graham School Bridges Soviet Church Divisions

Albania: First Evangelistic Campaign in 50 Years

Orthodox Suspend Ties with NCC, Episcopal Church

Religion, Abortion Key Issues in Nomination

Canadian Scholars Form Association

News from the North American Scene: August 19, 1991

General Convention: Episcopalians Fail to Resolve Sexuality Issues

World Scene: August 19, 1991

Religious Leaders Join Scientists in Ecological Concerns

Human Rights: Does Islam Have Room for Religious Liberty?

TBN Bid for Station Stalled by Complaints

‘Biker Pastor’ Hits Rough Road

Deflating the Gender Myths

Armageddon: The View from Andromeda

View issue

Our Latest

News

UK Christians Lament Landmark Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying 

Pro-life faith leaders say Parliament’s proposed bill fails to protect the vulnerable and fear it will “create more suffering and chaos.”

Strike Up the Band: Sixpence None the Richer Goes Back on Tour

With its perennial hit “Kiss Me” still in our ears and on our playlists, the Christian band reunites with nothing to prove.

Christianity Today’s Book of the Year

Two volumes rose to the head of the class.

The Bulletin

Matrescence with Lucy Jones

 

The Bulletin welcomes Lucy Jones for a conversation with Clarissa Moll on the neuroscience and social transformation of motherhood. 

Testimony

I Demolished My Faith for ‘My Best Life.’ It Only Led to Despair.

Queer love, polyamory, and drugs ruined me. That’s where Jesus found me.

The Book Screwtape Feared Most

Once a bedrock Christian classic, Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy” has been neglected for decades. It’s time for a revival.

Being Human

Airport Anxiety and Purposeful Publishing with Joy Allmond

CT’s executive editor learned to care for people as a 9/11-era flight attendant.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube