Are you fascinated by the book of Joshua and its stories about the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River, how the walls of Jericho tumbled down, and how Joshua defeated Hazor, “the head of all those kingdoms” (Josh 11:10)? If so, then you should definitely volunteer to work on the pioneering new excavation at Khirbet el-Mastarah, located just west of the Jordan River in what may have been the area of the earliest Israelite settlement. This intriguing site, located in the Jordan Valley, six miles north of Jericho, is one of the important ‘complex enclosures’ discovered by Adam Zertal in his survey of the region. This site is fairly large and includes a number of houses, animal pens, hints of walls, numerous cairns, and is dated to the time of the first settlement of the Tribes of Israel, as described in the book of Joshua. The location of the site is unusual, however, in that it is situated on a knoll in the fork of a wadi and surrounded by hills on three sides, completely hidden from its surroundings.

Join dig directors David Ben-Shlomo and Ralph Hawkins in this pioneering project in a land which is archaeologically almost unknown. This summer, the team will investigate the site, its date, and its material culture, and examine its relationship to early Israelite culture, as well as try to fathom its unusual location. The expedition will examine the question of whether there is any evidence that the settlers inhabiting the site represent people or tribes native to the land, or whether they arrived from east of the Jordan River.