This teacher likes to get down and dirty

Digging in the dirt is second nature to Cynthia Shafer-Elliott: Every summer, she spends her vacation burrowing in a 5x5-meter "sandbox" in the middle of Israel.

The new director of special projects at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany has volunteered a half-dozen times at two different archeological digs in the Holy Land, gaining experience she put to use toward a master's degree in biblical studies with a secondary focus on archeology.

Mrs. Shafer-Elliott also recently accepted a position teaching biblical studies at The College of Saint Rose in Albany and will begin teaching a course in archeology in the spring.

She said that "it's exciting to be in a spiritual, academic atmosphere" in Albany.

Women of Iron Age

Mrs. Shafer-Elliott first applied to go to an archeological dig in 2001, hoping to boost her knowledge as she worked on her graduate thesis on "roles and power of ancient Israelite women during the Iron Age."

Women, she noted, aren't featured in the Bible except when their presence or actions spur on the narrative. But excavating ancient cities in the Holy Land gives clues about how they spent their days in the Iron Age -- the time of Kings David and Solomon, around 1,000 B.C.

Mrs. Shafer-Elliott first went to Tel Rehov, a buried city in the Jordan Valley, about half an hour south of the Sea of Galilee.

Digging and digging

Like every volunteer, Mrs. Shafer-Elliott hoped to unearth rare and valuable artifacts. Instead, she found that archeology in Israel is mostly manual labor.

"It's moving a lot of dirt," she explained. "You come back with large muscles -- and thin!"

Then, on the last day at her first dig, she found a female figurine from the Iron or late Bronze Age. That was enough to spark her interest in future digs. She has returned five more times, digging at both Tel Rehov and at a site called Achziv, on Israel's coast.

Discoveries

Achziv, a Phoenician tomb, is where Mrs. Shafer-Elliott found many of the more unusual artifacts she has unearthed while volunteering: jewelry, a figurine of a Phoenician boat, scarabs and flasks. She also found skeletons.

"The area above the tomb was a graveyard," she explained. "They've been dead a long time."

A skeleton of a little girl still wore bronze bracelets and anklets. Such finds made Mrs. Shafer-Elliott wonder if the dig would be shut down by Orthodox Jews in the area who don't believe in disturbing the dead, but the authority who came to inspect the finds allowed them to continue.

Digging deep

Back at Tel Rehov the following year, Mrs. Shafer-Elliott had to remind herself that discovering ancient architecture -- which is most of what's found at the tel -- is just as important as finding individual artifacts.

She recalled the discovery of grinding stones and slabs that indicated one area was used for making bread. Although that was often a woman's task, Mrs. Shafer-Elliott believes that Iron Age men and women were too concerned with everyday survival to worry much about gender roles.

"It wasn't as hierarchical as we might have imagined," she opined. "Everyone [had to] cooperate and participate for a family to survive."

Reflecting on her unusual summer pursuit, she said: "I love it; I really do. It's so educational. It really helps with my teaching -- and you're participating in something great. You're the first person to see and touch an artifact for thousands of years."

(9/22/05) [[In-content Ad]]