The Opportunity to Dig for a Day

By Jaimin Kammerman-Fletcher, NFTY in Israel Participant, Bus 2

On our second day in Israel and we got to go on an archaeological dig. Not having gone to either Camp Coleman or Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) and instead going to Kutz Camp (Wooh!), I was semi alone, however this activity was just what we all needed. We were digging in one of the caves that were all that was left of an Ancient Greek village from the Maccabees time. As we were running, crawling and crab walking in and out of the caves, we laughed, smiled and bonded.

When we finally got to the digging site, the archaeologist who had been leading us introduced herself and as it turns out, she is from the other side of D.C that I’m from! Quick facts about myself, my name is Jaimin from Rockville, MD, and I’ve always wanted to be an archaeologist, or a paleontologist, or an anthropologist, something that ends with “ology”.

We got our picks and shovels that the guys went crazy for, acting like my brother playing hockey, which means high sticking everybody.

Anyways, we had about an hour to dig in the dirt in the basement of an ancient house (these Greeks had very messy basements). There were pottery shards everywhere. I found a large bone (leftovers) and some other people in my group found large parts of amphoras.

After all this digging we got back on the bus with new friends and experiences and some new shirts, as well as a full head bumps, we set off on our next experience in Israel.

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