Book Description

In 1962 E. Jerry Vardaman worked as an assistant director on the Michael Avi-Yonah Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima, Israel. Vardaman's records from his work at Caesarea include personal correspondence with leading scholars at the time such as W.F. Albright, H. Comfort and M. Avi-Yonah, sketches of the excavation units and several artifacts, daily field notes contained in two small memo books, and over 70 photographs both in color and black & white. Vardaman's records were kept in a file cabinet for over 40 years, and only recently have been given to ML Govaars for research and publication. The significance of Vardaman's records is in the fact that Avi-Yonah published only a small preliminary report on the 1962 excavation project with no photographs or drawings. Here for the first time are photographs from all areas of the 1962 Hebrew University excavation including the supposed "synagogue site" and Strato's Tower. Also for the first time is an architect's drawing of the structural remains from the "synagogue site" published. Most importantly, all are published in color. This is a rare look into an archaeological excavation from the 1960s. Vardaman recorded a first hand account of the on-going excavation work on a daily basis. In the field notebooks are notes on excavation strategy, who was working in which units that day, location data for artifact finds, basket numbers, and depth of excavation levels among other information. By virtue of being an assistant director, Vardaman had access to all the areas undergoing excavation during his two months at Caesarea, discussed key artifact finds, made "rubbings" of pottery stamps and developed a genuine overview of the project. The 1962 Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima collected data from the "synagogue site," Byzantine houses, remnants of a "Hellenistic structure" thought to be the foundation for Strato's Tower and a large accumulation of Hellenistic pottery fragments. The previously unpublished Vardaman data from the "synagogue site" and the Strato's Tower excavation are the subjects of the next two volumes in the series. These volumes will include measured drawings, artifact drawings, field data including measurements, photographs and specialized articles contributed by scholars who have studied and analyzed the material. MARYLINDA GOVAARS has over ten years of archaeological field experience both in the United States and overseas. At Caesarea, Govaars worked as assistant surveyor/architect in 1980, and then as head surveyor/architect in 1982 and 1984. She was first introduced to E.J. Vardaman in 1982 while working on her Master's thesis titled "A Reconsideration of the Synagogue Site at Caesarea Maritima, Israel" (Drew University, 1983, unpublished copyright protected). Govaars has been consulting with the E. Jerry Vardaman Estate since 2002. E. Jerry Vardaman (1927-2000) taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Mississippi State University. While at SBTS Vardaman led a group of volunteer excavators to join the Michael Avi-Yonah led Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima. As assistant director of the excavation, Vardaman kept field notes, made sketches and took color photographs. Later, Vardaman served as director of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University.