The Marquette University theology professor, an expert in Semitic languages such as biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, goes on archaeological digs in the Middle East.
Everybody seems to be interested in archaeology. As soon as you say the word, people’s eyes light up. They’re fascinated. It might be the Indiana Jones syndrome.
When I was a kid, I lived for a couple of years in Egypt in the early ’60s. I think that’s what sparked my interest.
My first dig was in 1984 at a site called Tell Qarqur in northern Syria. We came across two skeletons dating to the Hellenistic Period [323 B.C.–31 B.C.]. It was something I hadn’t really expected. To be excavating human remains was a shock.
If anything written turns up, my job is to decipher it, to translate it and eventually get it published. It’s helpful for all sorts of reasons. You can tell something about the date of the place you dug up from the kind of written material you find.
Reading an ancient text is a lot like deciphering a puzzle. I love the intellectual challenge. When I get a text that has never been seen by anyone before and I have the opportunity to figure out what it says, it’s very rewarding.
One of the reasons I’m interested in this material and why I think it’s important is it helps us get some background for stories in the Bible. One dig, there was evidence it was the site of an ancient battle for one of the kings of Israel.
In a larger way, though, you’re learning about history, about ancestors. You’re adding to the store of knowledge about what we were and where we came from. To learn what was done in the past helps us understand what we’re doing now and maybe what we should do in the future.
I’m 54 and it’s exhausting. You’re outside for hours, you’re climbing hills, up and down ladders. Although that’s one of the things I like about it – it’s a completely different lifestyle. I’m a professor; I stand in front of a class or sit behind a desk and do research.
I know folks who do digs well into their 60s or even later. I’d like to say I’ll be able to do it too. We’ll see.
– as told to Kasey Thompson
