Tel Dan 2020

Location: Dan, Israel

Season: June 14, 2020 to July 17, 2020

Application Deadline: May 1, 2020

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://www.teldanexcavations.com

Program Type:
Field School, Volunteer

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem, with HUC-JIR, Cincinnati, USA (sponsor) Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Cornerstone University, USA (affiliate) , University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and the Turning Points project (collaborator)

Project Director:
David Ilan (director), Yifat Thareani (co-director), and Jonathan Greer (associate director)

Project Description:

The renewed excavations at Tel Dan will continue in 2020 to explore questions about the ethnicities of the Iron Age I inhabitants of the site; questions about the relationship between the booming Iron II temple complex and the inhabitants of the site, as well as those in the greater region; and questions about Assyrian colonization following the conquest of the region by Tiglath Pileser III in the mid-eighth century BCE. The Turning Points project (directed by David Ilan, Aaron Burke, and Ellen Morris) further integrates fieldwork at Tel Dan in a larger collaborative, multi-region, multidisciplinary, archaeological research program aimed at a broad-spectrum investigation of the transition between the Bronze and Iron Age (ca. 1200–1000 BCE) in the southern Levant. The cultural transformations experienced in the region at this time, which are frequently discussed but not well understood, followed in the wake of the demise of Egyptian rule and ultimately witnessed the rise of Iron Age polities like Israel, as well as Phoenician, Aramean, and Transjordanian states. New archaeological fieldwork and collaborations with the ongoing excavations are aimed at collecting a wide range of archaeological data such as radiocarbon, petrographic, residue, botanical, and faunal remains that enable a robust interrogation of the negotiations of identity among Canaan’s diverse populations during this pivotal moment in its history. We welcome individual applications and conversations with institutions interested in joining our consortium. For more information and to request an application, see the project website.

Period(s) of Occupation: Late Bronze Age/Iron Age I, Iron Age II (13th – 7th cent. BCE)

Project Size: 25-49 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 2 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: none

Room and Board Arrangements:
$1180 for two weeks (one weekend) $1770 for three weeks (two weekends) $2200 for four weeks (three weekends) $2600 for five weeks (four weekends)

Academic Credit:
Academic credit is available through Hebrew Union College and Includes four lectures and one field trip each week (the 3 credit course requires a minimum of 4 weeks participation). The tuition fee for this course is $500.