Stones with a Human Heart

“I knew absolutely nothing about archaeology when I got into this. Nothing,” says Efrat Shapira Rosenberg ahead of the launch of the new season of BAC’s Hebrew-language video series on archaeology that she is the host of, “Israel Unearthed” (Eretz Hefer, as it is called in Hebrew). “I had to learn a tremendous amount for the first season. I feel like I’ve done two degrees in archaeology over these years.”

What did you discover about archaeology that you didn’t know before?

“First of all, in archaeology when you arrive at a site, they point and tell you: ‘Here was a temple.’ You look and don’t understand where the temple is and what you’re seeing, and then you see a pile of stones, and they tell you ‘this is the sanctuary and this is the holy of holies’; you need a lot of imagination. It’s an amazing field. I learned to a large extent a thing and its opposite. On the one hand, there are physical things. There are real stones in the ground – you can’t ignore the findings – and this forces you to confront all kinds of myths. There are things that archaeology simply proves. It’s science. On the other hand, at the same time I also discovered how many disputes there are around the interpretation of the findings, how much of it is not science, how much is midrash (interpretation). On the same stone can be built, literally, heaps upon heaps of castles in the air. I also discovered how much emotion and ego there is there. For me, it was amazing to discover how alive and vibrant this field is. I discovered the intrigues and the emotions.

“Archaeology is perceived as a sleepy field because it deals with studying the past, but in practice, new things are constantly being discovered. There aren’t many fields where you can develop some thesis, and then something is discovered that simply destroyes it all. You can build your reputation on something, and suddenly they discover something through scientific means, like carbon-14 testing,” she says, referring to a method used to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon-14 remaining in them, “and boom – all the interpretation you built collapses. It’s also fascinating to discover how people react to having their thesis refuted, or at least disputed. Archaeology teaches a lot about the human soul too, and not just about the stones and what was here.”

The psychology of archaeology.

“Exactly.”

In previous seasons all the discourse was academic and from the studio. This was the first time you went out into the field. How was it?

“First of all, it’s hard. We’re talking about field conditions, with all that that entails. You need to coordinate everything in advance, and sometimes the situation on the planned day isn’t ideal. Once we scheduled a filming day, in April 2024, and there was an Iranian attack on Israel that night. It was Sunday morning the day after that Saturday night. We scheduled for six in the morning at the site. We didn't know what to do – cancel? Not cancel? I got in the car and drove. We met at the site, tucked our tails and went home. Interviewees said they were afraid to come. No one knew how that day would develop – whether the event was over or not. We left children at home, met, cancelled and left. On another day when we went to the field, there was an air raid siren as soon as I got in the car, at six in the morning. I left the car in the middle of the street and ran inside. That one we didn’t cancel in the end.

“There were days of terrible heat, crazy scorching weather. On the last filming day, I almost lost consciousness. We were in the Jordan Valley, walking on foot in 42 degrees Celsius to film on the banks of the Yarmuk River. At some point the cameraman asked us to take a break because I was so red it didn’t look good. On another day there was torrential rain.

“This is a world where the most respected professors, Israel Prize winners, simply arrive at the site during excavation season. For several weeks or months they sleep next to the site, and volunteer delegations come from abroad. It’s a whole scene: they start digging at five in the morning; they eat breakfast together in the field; relationships develop there between all the diggers.”

What did you discover about archaeologists? What kind of people are they?

“These are really very strange researchers. They need to have the ability that every lecturer needs – to stand before a class and teach – and they also need to be fundraisers, because these excavations cost money. No one funds the projects in advance. If you’re interested in some excavation, you need to raise money to fund the diggers, their accommodation and food. Besides, they also need to know how to lead a team. At large excavations there are dozens of people – sometimes from different countries, speaking different languages – who are in the field. It’s quite a project. And beyond all this, archaeologists disappear from home for three months in the summer.

“By the way, there are also gender aspects. For women, for mothers, it’s much harder. You need to be away from home for two months, during the summer vacation. If you have small children, what will you do with them? Will you disappear from home and sleep at some excavation site? Someone told me she used to bring the children with her, but children don’t always like it. It’s not for no reason that most archaeologists are men.”

For more, see “Israel Unearthed” (Eretz Hefer), in Hebrew.

This article was originally published in Hebrew.

 Main Photo: Efrat Shapira Rosenberg in the filming of "Eretz Hefer" By Yair Yaakov