Students in the Lycoming College Program in Archaeology and Culture of the Ancient Near East (formerly Near Eastern Culture and Archaeology) have participated in a number of fabulous archeological excavations over the last several years, in a tradition reaching back over more than 40 years. Check out the new photos in the Archaeology showcase.

SUMMER 2009: Gezer Excavation, Idalion Excavation

• The Lycoming College Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus summer 2009 season will run from June 22 to August 7. Professor Pamela Gaber will have at least eight current Lyco students and recent graduates digging, at least four of whom are returning as staff members on the project.
• The Gezer Excavation and Publication Project in Israel will run from June 15 to July 17, 2009. Professor Robin Knauth and nine current Lyco students and recent graduates will be digging, four returning as staff members on the project.
• The Muncy Canal Project continues under Robin VanAuken for the next stage of excavation. Class and lab work for the course are scheduled for the spring semester of 2010, with the digging taking place the first three weeks of May. Digging will proceed over the summer on a volunteer basis with the Muncy Historical Society.
• We also have five students digging this summer in Greece, two in Egypt, and two in Ireland.  See below for the full listing!

SUMMER 2008: Gezer Excavation, Idalion Excavation
For the Summer of 2008, Lycoming College had two major projects going:

• First, the Idalion Excavation in Cyprus was back in the field with nine new Lyco student volunteers joining five recent Lyco grads on staff plus faculty Pamela Gaber (Director), Steven Johnson and Kathy Ryan for a seven-week season running June 23 - August 8, 2008.
• Second, Lycoming continued as a consortium school for the Gezer Excavation Project in Israel, running June 23 - July 25, 2008. Lycoming had seven new student volunteers joining faculty Robin Knauth and four recent Lyco grads or current students returning as assistant staff on this project.
• The Muncy Canal Project continued under Robin VanAuken (+ *Kathleen Eierman) for the next stage of excavation but scheduled as a fall course.  Digging went on there over the summer on a volunteer basis with the Muncy Historical Society.
• We also had students digging at Hazor in Israel, as well as in Egypt, Greece, Great Brittain, Catalina Island, and Illinois.
• We also had students involved in language study over the summer in Arabic (in Egypt), Latin (in Italy) and German (in Germany).

SUMMER 2007: Gezer Excavation, Muncy, Idalion Study Session
For the Summer of 2007, Lycoming College again had three projects going:

• First, Lycoming hosted another study session for publication of the Excavation at Idalion, Cyprus, bringing together the Idalion excavation team in Williamsport to work on publication.
• Second, Lycoming continued as a consortium school for the Gezer Excavation Project in Israel, running June 14 - July 21, 2007. Lycoming had thirteen students joining Dr. Robin Knauth on this project.
• Third, the Muncy Canal Project continued under Robin VanAuken for the next stage of excavation.
• We also had students digging in Greece, Spain, and Hawaii.

SUMMER 2006: Gezer Excavation, Idalion Study Session, Muncy and Egypt.
For the Summer of 2006, Lycoming College had three projects going:

• First, Lycoming hosted a study session for publication of the Excavation at Idalion, Cyprus, bringing together the Idalion excavation team in Williamsport to work on publication.
• Second, Lycoming became an official sponsoring consortium school for the Gezer Excavation Project in Israel, running from June 4 to July 7, 2006. Lycoming had a good contingent of five students joining Dr. Robin Knauth on this project.
• Third, the Muncy Canal Project continued under Robin Van Auken for the next stage of excavation.
• We also had two students over in Egypt participating in the Penn State dig at Karnak along with visiting faculty Margaret Cohen.

SUMMER 2005: ELEVEN in CYPRUS and FOUR in MUNCY
For the Summer of 2005 we again had two digs -
We had ELEVEN over in Cyprus digging at Idalion under the direction of Pamela Gaber (including two Lyco students returning as supervisors and another as Registrar for the dig), and another FOUR dug locally in May Term at the Muncy Canal Project under Robin Van Auken, who taught "Methods in American Archaeology" (HIST 259) as a May Term course in cooperation with the Muncy Historical Society. In addition, two other students participated in field schools in New York and Maryland.

SUMMER 2004: NINE in CYPRUS, ONE in EGYPT, and SIX at SNYDER
For the Summer of 2004 we again had two digs -
We had NINE over in Cyprus digging at Idalion under the direction of Pamela Gaber (including two Lyco students returning as supervisors), and another SIX dug locally in May at the Thomas Lightfoote Inn and at the Snyder Site in Williamsport along with the North-Central Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and the Lycoming County Historical Museum, under the direction of Jim Bressler, with Robin Van Auken teaching "Methods in American Archaeology" (HIST 259) as a May Term course. In addition, one of our students joined the Penn State dig in Egypt this summer under the direction of Dr. Donald Redford.

SUMMER 2003: SEVEN in CYPRUS and TWELVE on CANFIELD
For the Summer of 2003 we had not one but TWO digs scheduled -
We had SEVEN over in Cyprus digging at Idalion under the direction of Pamela Gaber, and another TWELVE dug locally in May Term at Canfield Island in Williamsport (Riverfront Park) along with the North-Central Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and the Lycoming County Historical Museum, under the direction of Jim Bressler, with Robin Van Auken teaching "Introduction to North American Archaeology" (HIST 258) for the first time as a May Term course.

SUMMER 2001 and 2002:
Our dig for Summers 2001 and 2002, organized and led by Dr. Steve Johnson under the expert direction of Dig Director Dr. Pamela Gaber, visiting faculty at Lycoming (formerly with the University of Arizona), was at Idalion in Cyprus! In 2001 we had 5 students with professor Steve Johnson digging up a Hellenistic era temenos and residential/industrial complex with the University of Arizona at Idalion in Cyprus, and a 6th student digging with Davidson College at the Athienou Archaeological Project in Cyprus - on full scholarship from the National Science Foundation! The dig was so impressed with our hard-working field school students that several were invited back as supervisors, expenses paid! We were so impressed with the dig that we decided to make it our own in the spring of 2002! Now it's officially a Lycoming Dig! Click here to see some great pix from the 2001 dig, and more from 2002!

Lyco students in Idalion

SUMMER 2000:
Our Summer 2000 dig was at Megiddo in Israel - the biblical "Armegeddon"! The Megiddo dig was jointly run by Tel Aviv University Archaeology Department (Israel Finkelstein, David Ussishkin) in Israel and Pennsylvania State University Jewish Studies (Baruch Halpern).

For information on other digs, link to the web site of the
Biblical Archaeology Society

Dig Opportunities Summary

Dig Opportunities are ongoing. Many of our first-time volunteers have been offered assistant square-supervisor status, expenses paid, should they choose to return for the next dig season. Hard work and dedication is definitely rewarded! Our student diggers in the last few years include (*supervisor):

1999 at Ashkelon, Israel: Marcus Myers, Sarah Rayner

2000 at Megiddo, Israel (w/ Steven Johnson): *Michele Burns, Holly Lehnig, Carol Stich, Anri Weisel

2001 at Athienou, Cyprus: Colin Casler

2001 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Steven Johnson): Shannon Wilson, Allison Harding, Tressa Nolan, Kristin Skvorak, Jesse Thompson

2002 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber): Stephen Sharp

2003 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber, Steve Johnson): *Michele Burns, Laura Taylor, Katie John, Jill Parker, Stephanie Moreira, Stephanie Wanek

2003 at Canfield, W'pt (w/ Robin VanAuken, Robin Knauth): Sean Reese, Jessica Kaiser, Joel Krauser, Lee Zelewicz, Ann Runnels, Rebecca Jervey, Rebecca Sander, Katy Grzywinski, Andy Lutzkanin, Andy Slawecki, Jennifer Rinehart

2004 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber): *Jill Parker, *Stephanie Wanek; Pat Bierly, Rachel Blaasch, Tom Courtney, Lee Hedges, Nicole Paterson, Nick Roberts, Jennifer Weston

2004 at Mendes, Egypt: Meghan Strong

2005 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber, Robin Knauth): *Nicole Paterson, *Jill Parker, *Stephanie Wanek; Pat Bierly, Jennifer Weston, Meghan Engleman, Celeste Purosky, Chris Young, Austin Joy

2005 at Tel Rehov, Israel: Derek Whitman

2005 Muncy Canal Site, PA (w/ Robin VanAuken): April Bentz, Kyle Greene, Jocelyn Hendershot, Wes Keen, Stephanie Ross, Amy Schriever, Erin Walker

2005 Castle Gardens, Vestal NY: Mark Ross

2005 Historic St. Mary's City, MD: Malorie Cease

2006 at Gezer, Israel (w/ Robin Knauth): Jason Zan, Aloys Rode, Brian Johnson, Alison Hamblin, Sarah Quinlan

2006 at Karnak, Egypt (w/ Margaret Cohen): Heather Rardin, Lindsay Vosburg

2006 Muncy Canal Site, PA (w/ Robin VanAuken): Luis Hernandez, Kelly Driscole, Lauren Raby, Sara Gavlock

2006 at various sites in NJ (w/ Hunter Research): Sarah Fall

2007 at Gezer, Israel (w/ Robin Knauth): *Jason Zan, Lindsay Vosburg, Marcella Barbosa, Lesley Haines, Kirsten Darby, Kara Hahn, Sam Daniel, Ian Shepherd, Matthew Martin, Sean McGrath, Darlene Holt, Stephanie Schrader, Allison Davis

2007 at Iklaina in Greece: Kelly Szpara

2007 in Spain: Sarah DeRosa

2007 in Hawaii: Sabreina Slaughter

2007 Muncy Canal Site, PA (w/Robin Van Auken): Gilbert Thompson

2008 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber, Steven Johnson, Kathy Ryan): *Stephanie Wanek, *Nicole Paterson, *Jill Parker, *Chris Young, *Meghan Engleman, Brooke Pollio, Michael Berzley, Jerome Ludwig, Stephanie Crescelius, Elizabeth Savastana, Michelle Burpoe, Lena Nieves, Jet deTraglia, Brenda Scanlan

2008 at Gezer, Israel (w/ Robin Knauth): *Jason Zan, *Marcella Barbosa, *Lesley Haines, *Allison Davis, Heather Rardin, Kevin Lasko, Kevin Moran, Alex Trojanowski, Sara Parsels, Kristina Manente, Michelle Pastrano

2008 at Hazor, Israel: Patrick Gardiner

2008 at Iklaina, Greece: Ashley Deitrick

2008 Theban Tomb Survey, Egypt: Erika Niemann

2008 at Castell Henllys, U.K.: Britta Spaulding

2008 on Catalina Island, CA: Brittany Timko

2008 at Campsville, IL: Jordan Snyder

2009 at Idalion, Cyprus (w/ Pamela Gaber): *Stephanie Wanek, *Nicole Paterson, *Jill Parker Bierly, *Brooke Pollio, Elizabeth Savastana, Michelle Burpoe, Abigail Petritsch, Bryant Miles.

2009 at Gezer, Israel (w/ Robin Knauth): *Jason Zan, *Marcella Barbosa, *Lesley Haines, *Allison Davis, Adam Brown, Kirstin Rose, Valerie King, Kerri Werner, Linnea Morris.

2009 at Iklaina, Greece: Patrick Gardiner, K.C. Failor, Justin Hall, Gabrielle Harper, Veronica Denison.

2009 at Mendes, Egypt (w/ Donald and Susan Redford, Margaret Cohen and Matt Adams, Penn State): Erika Niemann, Robyn Price.

2009 at Achill, Ireland (Galway): Jordan Snyder, Amanda Burt.

2009 at Menorca, Spain: Haley Cohen.