Field School Syllabus | Field School Assignments | Field School Schedule Field School Assignments Dear Zeitah Field School Student, As a member of the volunteer staff seeking academic credit for your work through Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, you will be enrolled in the course, Introduction to the Archaeology and Land of Israel, which consists in field work, lectures, and field trips. Your main textbook will be Regions on the Run, by James M. Monson, which you will work through before you leave for Israel. This will give you an excellent background for understanding what you’re going to see and where you’re going to go on our field trips. You’ll want to be sure to bring this book with you to Israel, as well as a modern translation of the Bible (not a paraphrase). Begin by reading the introductory sections on pages 3–4. This will give you an overview of the book, as well as instructions for highlighting some site and regional names on the maps in the book and how to interpret abbreviations and color coding. Next, read pages 5–9, which will introduce you to the land of Israel, its major ancient roadways, and its relation to other countries in the ancient Near East. Then move on to pages 10–29, which discuss the three main regions in Israel: the northern, southern, and central. Keep your Bible handy for referring to relevant biblical passages listed in the margins. You don’t need to read all of these, but a sampling will help you relate your textbook reading to the biblical text. The last 12 pages of the book include helpful charts that give you an overview of different periods in biblical history. You should familiarize yourself with these and keep them handy for referring to in Israel. You should be able to complete your reading of Regions on the Run in a day or two. Although you will not be tested on these materials, the more you learn now, the more you’ll get out of your experience in Israel this summer, so I encourage you to absorb as much information as you can. Evening lectures by a variety of speakers will add to your knowledge by concentrating on the tools and techniques of field archaeology and related areas of study. If you are enrolling for six units of credit, you will also need to purchase one of the books listed on the course syllabus and begin reading it as soon as possible, so that you can complete a book report on it by the end of the excavation. You should bring this book with you to Israel as well. You will also be completing short impression reports after each field trip. You may want to buy a diary or composition book with enough paper for recording not only your field trip impressions but also a daily excavation journal. This will be a wonderful keepsake of your experiences that you can read over and over again for the rest of your life. Your grade for the course will be based on your completion of all reading, writing, and field work assignments, as well as attendance at all lectures and field trips. You will receive a lecture and field trip schedule when we arrive in Israel. Those who are taking field school credit through Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and are planning to transfer credit to a different institution must make a written request for the transfer directly to the registrar at the seminary after the end of the excavation, as credit is not transferred automatically. If you have any questions or need help locating books, feel free to contact me at the email address below. I look forward to meeting you soon! Sincerely, Ron E. Tappy tappy@fyi.net Back To Top