Volunteer on a dig for the thrill of digging up the past (you'll also learn to hate buckets)
- Written by Gil Davis, Associate Professor and Director, Ancient Israel Program, Australian Catholic University
Photograph: Gil Davis, Author providedThis article is part of a series explaining how readers can learn the skills to take part in activities that academics love doing as part of their work.
A few more brushstrokes and the student gasped with excitement. There in the dirt was a small, bronze statue of a calf, revealed for the first time in 3,000...

















