Beyond the Dig: How Tell Qana Blends Archaeology with Community and Healing

The Tell Qana Archaeological Project transcends traditional excavation work, according to Excavation Directors Dr. Amit Dagan and Dr. Ayelet Dayan, who spoke with The Jerusalem Post while taking shelter in the limited shade available at the site.

Dagan oversees the excavations on behalf of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, while Dayan manages operations for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

“When I started this project, it was very important to me to create a different kind of archaeological project,” he explained. “I wanted to build a project that would combine advanced archaeological and environmental research with education and community engagement.”

A brief five-minute walk from the Hod Hasharon Ecological Park, the first thing that strikes visitors about Tell Qana is the sound. Above the steady rhythm of pickaxes and the scraping of tools against stone, lighthearted conversations drift through the air in both Hebrew and English, filled with teasing and laughter that seems improbable in temperatures nearing 40°C.

The Post spent a day alongside the Tell Qana team as the site’s third excavation season approached its conclusion, arriving in time to join them for breakfast and introductions.

“You know, you work for an hour or two; it’s very hard soil, very hot. You really need to be into it, to love it,” Dagan remarked. “Either you love it, or you don’t. There’s no middle ground.”

Gathered around three long tables sat the excavation team, joined by university students and volunteers from the general Israeli public, including several children, all of whom had decided to don hats and gloves and spend a day under the August sun digging through the layered history of the region.

Isabel Andrade, an Egyptologist and historian from Spain who typically volunteers at Luxor during the winter months, told the Post that there is no comparison between excavating in the soft sands of Egypt and tackling the compacted earth of Tell Qana.

“This is a great team. It’s like a family. Since I started working at Tell Qana last year, I want to come back every year,” Andrade shared, noting that the site captured her interest because of its ancient historical connections to Egypt. “I’m glad to be here. It’s a privilege.”

Dagan confirmed that selecting Tell Qana as his inaugural project as an excavation director was a deliberate choice. Unlike other archaeological sites situated along the Yarkon River in the Sharon region, it had never been formally excavated.

“I first came to Tell Qana on my own,” he recalled. “It was completely overgrown with reeds, but as I walked across the tell, I kept finding pottery sherds scattered on the surface. At some point, I just sat down, looked around, and thought: this is the place.”

After completing a field survey of the area in 2022 to gain insight into the various eras buried at the site, Dagan began mapping out the excavation.

Now, three seasons into the work, “the results are fascinating,” Dagan noted. He added that the findings are particularly compelling because everything uncovered at the site represents the first formal research conducted there since it was last inhabited in antiquity.

Evidence of over 200 years of Philistine presence uncovered

While the initial field survey and the first two excavation seasons revealed artifacts dating from the Early Bronze Age through the Persian period, this third season has brought to light evidence of more than 200 years of sustained Philistine presence.

Egyptian and Assyrian artifacts have also been recovered at the site, Dagan informed the Post, the most recent being an ancient Egyptian scarab discovered last Friday.

“At the same site you can find Hellenistic sling stones, Scythian arrowheads from the Persian period,” he elaborated. “You can also find a Scottish pocket knife from World War I, everything in the same location in the center of Israel, and nobody knew about the site’s archaeological potential. It’s like it waited for us.”

However, antiquity is not the only history Tell Qana offers its visitors.

Using historical and ancient maps alongside modern technology, the Tell Qana team identified WWI trenches originally dug by the Ottomans, who were determined to hold their defensive line against the British. Bullets, cartridges, and buttons belonging to British soldiers were carefully extracted from the earth, cataloged, and recorded.

“We found a pocket knife from Edinburgh that probably belonged to a Scottish soldier, and later we learned that the Scottish 52nd Lowland Infantry Division had fought here,” Dagan explained to the Post. “You can really see it. That Scottish soldier, you know, maybe he left, maybe something happened to him, maybe not, but you find their knife here at the site. It’s really emotional.”

Midway through the day, excavations were briefly halted. Trowels, hoes, and wheelbarrows were set aside as the group retreated to the shade for a moment to rest and share chilled watermelon, carefully sliced by one of the volunteers.

“Food,” Dagan noted with a smile. “It’s part of the deal here.”

The camaraderie among the Tell Qana team was a joy to witness: a community of people from all walks of life coming together as they work to piece together a much older, ancient community.

Biblical scholar and archaeologist Dr. Ahuva Ho, who has been excavating alongside Dagan for more than two decades, echoed this sentiment to the Post.

“Wherever he goes, I go,” she said, explaining that her connection to Tell Qana extends beyond her role as an archaeologist. “You can’t just talk in the abstract about the history of someone, the Persian history, the Philistine history. They are part of my history, and that’s why I’m here. I’m part of that.”

Finding healing through restoration

In addition to the excavation itself, the Tell Qana Archaeological Project encompasses two supplementary components: a Citizen Science project and the Lab for Mending Fragments initiative.

The Citizen Science project, which welcomes members of the public who have the interest and desire to contribute meaningfully to archaeological research, includes a specialized program that brings individuals on the autism spectrum to work in the archaeology lab.

The Lab for Mending Fragments, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ayelet Oreg from Bar-Ilan University’s Louis & Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, has partnered with soldiers suffering from PTSD, the AMCHA Holocaust Survivor Program, as well as midwives who specialize in stillbirth care, employing archaeology as a tool for healing and restoration.

“The act of healing and restoring the remains or belongings of someone else has the ability to open people up and help them begin the path to healing, and that’s basically what this place is about, healing,” Dagan shared with the Post.

“At the end of the day, I always tell my students that people die twice: when they die and when people forget about them,” he reflected. “Our job is to tell the story of these people, because we are here and we can learn a great deal from them.”

“That’s what we do, we tell their story, and I hope that one day someone will tell our story.”

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