Trude Dothan
Posted on | November 13, 2008 | No Comments
Archeologist, author, and professor
When we dig up cities, we get pottery. People were people—they were born, they grew up, they died. Life revolves around this. When we find burial grounds, fortifications, private houses, we get a sense of how they lived, how they ate. The fun of archeology is to make cities and civilizations of the past come alive. People are people are people.
Are you first an Israeli, an archeologist, a woman, or a citizen of the world?
A woman I am, that’s a fact, though I’ve never been a feminist. I’ve always worked with men, and my husband was also an archeologist. We never excavated together, but we wrote together. I am a scientist, an archeologist, and a proud grandmother. The past is very important—you have a different perspective on things when you know the past, but it’s important not to be stuck in the past.
Do emotions have any place in science?
They shouldn’t. Archeology is not science per se. We use human interest, interactions with people, and sociology, as emotions have impact on making sites, cities, and civilizations come to life, but it is dangerous for science to be carried away by emotions.
What civilizations do you study?
My interest is the interconnections with the Mediterranean, connections with Egypt, historical, everyday customs. I’m interested in the period of the Judges, and I focus on the Philistines. I’m a Philistine. That was a joke, to be called a Philistine used to be an insult. Now, I understand what a rich culture they had.
I start in the Canaanite period. I’ve also studied the exodus. I excavated a site now in the Gaza Strip where we found the remains of a 13th century BC stronghold on the route to Canaan from Egypt. It was fantastic, with coffins with gold.
Now, catastrophes are in fashion—earthquakes, tsunamis. Around 2200 BC there was some kind of catastrophe. Greece—Mycenae—was destroyed. Writing stopped. Cities on the shores of Canaan were destroyed. Trade on the Mediterranean halted. We know, by archeological finds, of ships that sank off the coast of Turkey. This was a dramatic point where some things ended, but new things happened. You have the settlement of Canaan by the Israelites. This period of 12th to 13th century BC interests me because the Philistines are a new element from the West coming in to settle Canaan. They don’t bring trade, but they bring their culture with them. In their vessels and decorations, I found exact parallels with the work of Greece.
Do you do any work with Palestinian scientists?
We’d love to do it, but the political situation doesn’t make it easy. One of my Palestinian colleagues at my last excavation is the president of the Albright Institute, an institute for archeology on Salahuddin Street. If you go there to attend a lecture, you find Arabs, Jews, and Christians. It’s amazing. We have Thanksgiving there. But it’s far harder for me to invite my Palestinian colleagues to come on a dig with me.
Is there any time period that particularly draws you?
Not a time, but a place. Jerusalem is my home. I’ve always come back to Jerusalem. In my field, Jerusalem is the historical Jerusalem, the pre-eminent city of the period of the kings.
My interests focus on the East rather than the West. I study historical connections, customs, cultural links between Egypt, Cyprus, Mycenae, and Greece. I’ve found that there was a common culture linking together these areas, which is absolutely fascinating.
Do you believe in the Bible?
Depends on what you mean by “believe.” I think the Bible is a wonderful book.
People have fought a long time. In the conflicts here now, are those best solved through the head or heart?
Best would be both together, but it depends on who is doing it and who is involved. It amazes me, but people don’t change, unfortunately. But I am an optimist even though I see the suffering.
What does Israel mean to you?
It is my country, my home, the place I always come back to. I’ve gone to many nice places and wonderful universities, but I’ve always wanted to come home to Israel. Of course, there are many opinions as there are people in Israel. Every time there is an aliyah, new people come in. My best friend is right wing, for instance. We have newcomers from Abyssinia. It’s not an easy way to integrate. Most of us are aware of it, but we don’t do enough about it.
What would you like to tell the young women of the world?
I was fortunate because I found my work to be very interesting. Family relations and good connections with colleagues are also important. I would advise them to get up every morning and have a plan of what you are doing. Go out. Just don’t sit still and be gloomy. Don’t disconnect yourself; try to be part of something.
Dothan, age 85, is a renowned archeologist and professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archeology. Her area of study starts with the Canaanite Period and focuses on the Philistines. Her many books include two on her excavation of a site, now in the Gaza Strip, that was on the route to Canaan from Egypt. Dothan’s husband and father were also archeologists. Her parents emigrated from Vienna in the 1920’s.
