Cline, 43, has participated in Megiddo excavations five times but has researched the site's history throughout his career. Four years ago, in time for millennial celebrations, he published "Battles of Armageddon," a book on 34 major conflicts that have taken place in the 30-mile-wide Jezreel Valley, five of them recorded in the Old Testament.
Cline said many professional and student archaeologists are drawn to Megiddo by the Armageddon connection. Many biblical scholars believe that the Jezreel Valley will be the site of the penultimate battle between the forces of God and Satan, with the final conflict and return of the Messiah taking place in Jerusalem.
Some archaeologists think the palace Megiddo, near Haifa, Israel, was built by King Solomon. The city at Megiddo was destroyed and rebuilt 25 times.
(Photos Eric Cline)
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But dig participants have come from a wide spectrum of beliefs -- Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic -- and most come with open minds about the connection of archaeological finds and history as recorded in the Bible, Cline said.
Cline's students said they were drawn to the dig for a variety of reasons, mostly for its importance to the history of Israel and the site's extraordinary record of human accomplishment.
"Some people [in the United States] can't fathom having to get around in a horse and buggy," Saltzman said. "To think about how people lived 3,000 years ago boggles the mind."
Prutzman recalls her daily ritual of leaving the kibbutz where most students stayed at 4:45 a.m. for a 15-minute walk to the site for the 5 o'clock start. "I'd watch the sun rise and the cars moving in the valley. . . . And I'd see the lights of Nazareth and Mount Gilboa above the plain and think, 'This area is so beautiful!' "
The draw of the land, combined with the rush of finding "a person or even a pot that hasn't seen light in 1,000 years," will bring her and other students back to Megiddo.
"This will not be my last season," Prutzman said. "I have every intention of going back in 2006."
An extensive report on the Megiddo excavations, including maps and photographs, can be found at the Megiddo Expedition Web site: www.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/megiddo/bar.html
