YDKM Podcast- Real Life Indiana Jones

The small Egyptian cat figurine I mentioned at the end of the show. Ashkelon, Israel.

Dear You Don’t know Me podcast,

Thank you for hosting me last night on your show! Honored to be featured in your 31st episode. Here are some links & info to supplement the interview for your listeners.

For anyone who wants to try archaeology in Israel/Palestine, the Biblical Archaeology Society keeps a list of every excavation, what they are excavating, and how to volunteer.

As for myself, I work on staff at Tel Burna. Come join us this summer!

We spoke about the black market antiquities trade & the way ISIS uses looted antiquities to fund terrorism. I mentioned the infamous Green family of Hobby Lobby and their Museum of the Bible opening in DC. Hobby Lobby’s biblical antiquities came from the black market and probably funded terrorism- directly or indirectly.

We discussed the ways archaeologists use the latest technology to preserve and record our finds. Archaeology will always be a destructive science, but we can mitigate that. I mentioned the recent use of photogrammetry in archaeology, and how we adapted this technology from Hollywood and the video game industry.

I also mentioned my small Israel/Palestinian non-profit The Society for Humanitarian Archaeological Research and Exploration (SHARE).

The nude female plaque figurine I mentioned. From Ornan, T., (2007). ‘Labor Pangs: The Revadim Plaque Type’, Pp. 215–235 in S. Bickel, et al. (eds.), Images as Sources (Fribourg).

The unique nude female figurine torso we found at Tel Burna.

For anyone interested in when and how the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament was written I recommend Who Wrote the Bible by RE Friedman. I also mentioned the ongoing debate over the historical accuracy of the Bible’s description of David & Solomon reigning over a united kingdom of Israel. I tend to be a moderate in this debate believing the truth is somewhere between the extremes of archaeologists Israel Finkelstein (Tel Aviv University) on the one hand and Eilat Mazar (Hebrew University) on the other.

Iron Age jar in situ. The time of the Kingdom of Judah. This kind of find is not uncommon at Tel Burna and similar sites.

Annotated aerial drone photo of Tel Burna Area B1. This area roughly dates to the 13th cent. BCE

Storage at our lab.

Yours Truly digging in the dirt at Tel Burna

Thank you YDKM! Now you know me!