On Feb. 20, students learned that the summer 2024 Tel Shimron excavation season was officially cancelled in an email from Angela Walters, excavations coordinator. Her email to students who had previously shown interest in the annual trip said that the “instability on Israel’s northern border makes the Tel Shimron region vulnerable to rocket fire.”
Daniel Master, professor of archaeology at Wheaton College, is co-director of an ongoing excavation at the ancient city of Tel Shimron, which he leads alongside Mario Martin, professor at the University of Innsbruck. For six weeks each summer, Wheaton students who participate in the trip have the opportunity to uncover ancient neighborhoods buried under the tel, or mound, while taking 4-8 credit hours.
Master told the Record that he and his colleagues are “excited about the research, but we want to make sure that it’s conducted in a way that is safe…We look forward to the day when the people of Israel are able to live in safety.”
As a result of the Oct. 7 attacks near the Israel-Gaza border by Hamas, Israeli officials say about 1,200 people were killed and thousands more were injured or abducted. The Israeli military responded with an ongoing counteroffensive, which has killed over 27,000 people and displaced an estimated 85 percent of Gazans, according to the Associated Press. According to Walters email, safety concerns for potential student visitors are primarily regarding conflict at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon that has been inflamed by the counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip.
The college’s other scheduled trip to the region, Semester in Jerusalem, which was formerly scheduled for this semester, was already postponed to 2025. Logan Maxwell, junior classical languages major, said the announcement was not a shock.
“I was not surprised when the trip was cancelled,” Maxwell said. “I try to keep tabs on what is going on in the Middle East and knew the situation was not improving. I was hoping for a better outcome, but I saw the writing on the wall for this year’s trip.”
This cancellation mostly affects archaeology majors who are required to take field classes that are only offered in conjunction with the trip to Tel Shimron. However, Master said he is not overly concerned about interference with students’ degree-completion requirements.
“It may create some tricky things that we have to work through, but we’re committed to trying to work with students to make sure that that’s as smooth as possible,” he said. “Many of the students who are in the academic program have already gone, and some can go in 2025 just as easily.”
Master said he is hopeful that the excavation and Wheaton program will resume in 2025, and Maxwell is committed to going.
