July - August 2012
This summer marked the first year of a new module in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies in which staff and students participated in the first season of a new archaeological excavation at Tel Azekah in Israel (located, appropriately enough, in the Britannia Park). The excavation, formally titled the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition, operates under the auspices of the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the Theologische Fakultät of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Six Nottingham students from the TRS, Archaeology and History departments joined over a hundred volunteers from places as diverse as Australia, Germany and the United States for four weeks of digging. The students were spread over each of the five excavation areas (‘W’, ‘E’, ‘S1’, ‘S2’ and ‘T’) and TRS lecturer Carly Crouch was an assistant area supervisor in Area T. The students threw themselves into the dirt with gusto, waking up at 4:00 a.m. and piling onto buses in order to begin work at the site shortly after sunrise, racing against the clock to get as much done as possible before the noonday heat of a hot Israeli summer. Their hard work earned high praise from the area supervisors and assistant supervisors with whom they were working, with many positive remarks about their enthusiasm and energy. Several are planning to return next year and are already hard at work encouraging their friends and fellow students to join us for the 2013 season.
Photographs from the trip can be viewed here.
A short video from the trip can be viewed here.
Interesting in joining the 2013 trip? For more information, email Dr. Carly Crouch. You can also check out the Tel Azekah excavation's website and Facebook page.
Posted on Thursday 20th September 2012