Festival of Treasures

A fun experience that brings to life the work that goes into all the ancient sites in Israel! For a few hours we became amateur archaeologists participating in a project sifting through debris from the area in the City of David where we had walked the previous day - how cool is that? We listened to an archaeologist talk in a lively interesting way about what archaeologists do, the process of digging and sifting and then after a demonstration, we went at it with guidance from the archaeological staff. A young boy in our group found a coin from the second temple period. We found quite a lot of pottery and stones. We were hoping for a major discovery but were content in a renewed appreciation of the archaeological work all over Israel that uncovers so much history. It was fun and a great way to go behind the scenes so-to-speak of all the archaeological sites we have been visiting in Israel.

Archaeological experience not to be missed! When in Jerusalem we were told you MUST do something archaeological. This is not a dig...you stand under a shaded canopy the entire time (very important in hot months), you do none of the manual labor as with other experiences (a bonus I think), and you sift through buckets of material excavated form a specific site (not random sites, you’re explained where from). This experience is made all the better by a delightful archaeologist Frankie who will work with you and teach you how to identify rocks from valued historical pieces…after more than 10 years in this job she still exudes passion. What’s more, they opened up a new session just for us to accommodate. This is the archaeological experience to go for ... all the education and “fun of the lottery” trying to find that one rare piece, without spilling you blood sweat and tears for it. I’d go back there for sure!