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November 23, 2005
The Gezer Reunion
I guess I'm caught up enough to give a report on the Gezer Excavation Reunion at the American Schools of Oriental Research meeting in Philadelphia last week.
The reunion, like the Hebrew Union College/Harvard Semitic Museum Tell Gezer excavations, had two phases. First, Lawrence T. Geraty of La Sierra University chaired a special ASOR session called, "Excavations at Tell Gezer in Retrospect and Prospect" with four speakers.
William G. Dever of University of Arizona who was the first Excavation Director gave a talk entitled "Phase I Excavations at Gezer: A Review and Critique." Actually, Bill began as co-director with Darrell Lance. He spoke of how it all started and the naivety of the energetic young team that brought it all together. He also outlined what he saw as the major accomplishments. He took particular pride in the methodological rigor and the use of specialists like the late geologist Rubin Bullard and the anthropologists and paleobotanists that were an integral part of the project. Having such specialists on the site is commonplace today but was really pioneering in the late sixties and early seventies. Bill was asked what he saw as the biggest difference between the methodology at Gezer and that used a Shekem. In addition to the technical specialists, he noted that the focus on uniformity of section drawing and the central importance of sections were the most important differences. He also outlined the continuing publication effort. One important point that Bill made bears repeating. He believes that it is no longer possible to stage a large-scale American excavation in Israel without a full time staff in country supporting publication efforts.
Joe D. Seger of Mississippi State University who was phase two director gave a somewhat more technical talk on, "Phase II Excavations at Gezer in Retrospect with a View Inside the MB City." While Joe did talk about the Middle Bronze Age city and fortifications at Gezer he also talked about the Iron Age phases exposed in the new field seven. Joe also showed a highly edited version of The Big Dig a documentary film on archeology that was done at Gezer while I was there. Yes, I'm in it but, mercifully, not in the clip Joe showed. Joe also showed a film clip of an interview with Gad Granach. Gad served as foreman for the Gezer excavation and was among the most unforgettable characters ever to grace the tell. As far as I can determine his actual title was major domo at the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem. If you don't believe that was Gad's title check out Gezer IV: The 1969-71 Seasons in Field VI, the "Acropolis" Part I, page 2.
Steven Ortiz of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary presented "New Excavations at Gezer: A Look Ahead." Ortiz outlined his plans for the next phase of excavations. Ortiz wants to expose the area between and around Field III and Field VII to provide an improved the understanding of Iron Age Gezer. Among other things, he hopes to shed light on the low verses high Iron Age chronology. I just hope he doesn't find anything between the unexcavated surface and the Iron Age remains that are certainly in the area he wants to excavate. A Roman or Persian period strata could surely slow down the process. If something like that gets in the way, I'm sure he will do a great job with it. But there is always a potential problem when archaeologists dig with too tight a focus in mind.
Norma E. Dever of Pima Community College presented "Gezer in Myth and Legend." Norma was the lifeblood of the Gezer excavations during Phase I and our small children played in her backyard at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem during the summer of 1971. Norma reminded us of just how much fun the Gezer experience was. She told a number of memorable stories of camp life and the early days of the excavation. I think most of us were just glad she didn't tell more. She did tell of one area supervisors attempting to seduce another. In her frustration, the would be seductress was heard to say, "Come on (name withheld to protect the innocent), it only takes ten minutes." As they say, what happens at Gezer stays at Gezer. I was a little embarrassed that after over thirty years I did not recognize her at first. But she reminded us all of an old Gezer saying, "Norma, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on." Norma had the idea for this reunion and was the driving force behind it. Thank you, Norma.
At the end of these more or less formal proceeding, Bill Dever and Joe Seger presented Richard J. Scheur with a plaque in recognition of his long friendship and support of the Gezer excavations.
Then off to Phase II of the reunion: a reception and time to renew old friendships. In addition to Norma, Bill and Joe, I got to spend some time with Sy Gitin, Darrel Lance Jack Holliday, Robert Wright and Randy Osborne. It was a wonderful surprise to see Robin Brown who, I think, worked on my crew as a volunteer in field II in 1973, but may have worked with me in field VI in 1971, perhaps both years. She seemed as full of life and energy as I remembered her and has kept herself involved in archaeology over the years. It was also great to see Page Thomas and Suzanne Richard, both of whom, if memory serves me, spent their honeymoons (each with their own spouses) at Gezer. Among the most important topics discussed was Darrel Lance's role in the excavation. While some misguided scholars maintained that he was the only sane member of the Gezer core staff, I held the position that he was the only insane member. I was able to win a few converts to my position. I think Darrel was one of them. During the reception, a very large number of slides from the excavation were shown. It was great fun to watch them.
One of the truly great experiences of the reunion was running into Ellie (Eleanor F.) Beach and meeting her husband. Ellie was a colleague of mine when we were both students at the Claremont Graduate School. She was also a volunteer during the 1973 season at Gezer. She blames credits me for getting her involved with the Gezer dig which led to the Lahav dig which lead to . . . Ellie has a brand new book, The Jezebel Letters, a fictionalized account of Jezebel. I'm looking forward to reading it.
The whole evening was great. Perhaps the only real disappointment was the absence of Dainty Dandy Dinky Dapper Dan Cole. Dan had planned to come but family obligations prevented it at the last minute. He did honor us with the recipe for and history of Pink Camel, a Gezer original drink. I will publish the recipe in a later post.
A small side note: Shirley and I had dinner Thursday evening with Hershel Shank the editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. He told us first hand about the merger of Bible Review and Archaeology Odyssey into Biblical Archaeology Review. Anyone who thinks this is for any reason other than financial difficulties is sadly mistaken. Hershel wanted to know what he needed to do to increase readership and revenue and not necessarily in that order. We talked about how to better leverage the magazine's webpage among other things. And yes, we did talk about the James Ossuary inscription. Guess what, he thinks it is genuine.
Posted by Duane Smith at November 23, 2005 9:28 AM | Read more on Archaeology |
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