The Jezreel Expedition Archaeological Project Begins 2014 Dig Season in Israel
Evansville, IN (PRWEB) May 21, 2014 -- University of Evansville students, alumni, and faculty will spend their summer exploring archaeological remains in northern Israel as participants in the 2014 Jezreel Expedition dig season. From May 18 – June 20, 14 UE students and alumni will work alongside an international team to uncover 7,000 years of history.
The Jezreel Expedition consortium currently includes Vanderbilt, Villanova University, Chapman University and the University of Arizona. Recently, the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) accredited the Jezreel archaeological field school, making it one of only 17 archaeological projects in the world to be certified by the RPA.
The ancient city of Jezreel was a major east-west international trade route that linked the empires of Mesopotamia with Egypt. The site appears to have been occupied from the fifth millennium BCE through the 20th century, so it allows scholars and researchers to study prehistoric, biblical and modern remains. This summer, they will be looking at the connection between the Tel Jezreel (the acropolis) and the spring below in antiquity and modern times, further investigating an Iron Age (biblical period) winery that may be one of the largest in Israel from the period, and investigating the medieval Islamic occupation of the site.
Co-directors of the Jezreel project are Jennie Ebeling, UE associate professor of archaeology and 2014 Outstanding Teacher, and Norma Franklin, research fellow at the Zinman Institute at the University of Haifa. Staff and team members come from the US, Israel, UK, Australia, Indonesia and Switzerland.
Participating students earn three UE credits for four weeks at the intensive field school, which includes excavation and survey as well as laboratory methods, artifact analysis and a lecture and field trip program. The University of Evansville’s Department of Archaeology and Art History is one of the largest undergraduate programs in Mediterranean archaeology in the country, and its 60 majors participate in summer excavations and internships around the world.
To obtain information about the Jezreel Expedition, sponsoring a student, or studying at UE, please visit http://www.evansville.edu/majors/archaeology or email uerelations(at)evansville(dot)edu. A Jezreel Expedition 2014 blog can also be followed at http://www.evansville.edu/majors/archaeology/jezreelblog.cfm.
About the University of Evansville
The University of Evansville is a private, liberal arts-based university in Evansville, Indiana, with a full-time undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,300. UE’s diverse student body represents 41 states and 54 countries. U.S. News & World Report recognizes UE as a top 10 master’s-granting university in the Midwest, and third in the region for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” For more information, please visit http://www.evansville.edu.
Emily Wilson, Bohlsen Group, +1 (317) 602-7137, [email protected]
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