2022 Dig Scholarship Winners

BAS Dig Scholarships allow students and enthusiasts alike to participate in the excitement of excavating biblical history Photo: Courtesy of the Jezreel Valley Regional Project.

For almost four decades, the Biblical Archaeology Society has been connecting volunteers with the opportunity to participate in some of the most exciting and groundbreaking archaeological excavations in the Near East and around the Mediterranean. In this pursuit, BAS puts together a yearly list of dig sites looking for volunteers, in addition to offering dig scholarships. For the 2022 excavation season, BAS received many incredible applicants for our dig scholarship program and we are pleased to highlight this year’s eight winners.

Matthew Burden: El Araj, Israel

Matthew Burden is a pastor serving in a rural area of eastern Maine, where he lives with his wife and three children. He does some independent writing on the side and is a lifelong history lover, with a particular fascination with the world of late antiquity.

Courtesy Matthew Burden.

Chaya Cassano: Abel Beth Maacah, Israel

Chaya Cassano is a Ph.D. candidate in Classics at CUNY Graduate Center, and teaches Classical subjects as an adjunct instructor in New York. She is currently working on her dissertation and her interests are ancient history and papyrology.

Courtesy Chaya Cassano.

Kaitlyn Hawn: Hippos, Israel

Kaitlyn Hawn hails from Minnesota and is a graduate of Gordon College and Jerusalem University College. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Oxford. Her main interests include Second Temple Judaism, New Testament, and historical geography.

Courtesy Kaitlyn Hawn.

Caitlin Hubler: Tel Azekah, Israel

Caitlin Hubler is a rising third-year doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at Emory University. Hubler’s work traces the development of Israelite religion as informed by the philosophical contexts of the ancient Near East. Her writing has appeared in Journal for the Study of Old Testament as well as Mockingbird Magazine and the Project on Lived Theology.

Courtesy Caitlin Hubler.

Chloe Hunt: Huqoq, Israel

Chloe Hunt is a graduating senior at Austin College majoring in Classical Civilizations and Art History. Chloe has been looking forward to going on the Huqoq excavation since before her freshman year of college. Upon returning to the U.S., Chloe will live in Fort Worth, Texas, and assist with renovations of historic homes in the downtown area.

Courtesy Chloe Hunt.

Priscila de Moraes: Caesarea Maritima, Israel

Priscila de Moraes is a first-year Ph.D. student at Cornell University. She is part of the History of Art and Archaeology track, and her research is focused on the art and architecture of late antique and early Byzantine places of worship in the Near East.

Courtesy Priscila de Moraes.

Sully Sullivan: Khirbat al-Balu’a, Jordan

Sully Sullivan is earning a bachelor’s degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and The Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr College. His research interests include urbanism, gender, and landscape in the ancient Near East. This will be his first summer in the field, but will definitely not be the last.

Courtesy Sully Sullivan.

Zeynep Türker: Megiddo, Israel

Zeynep Türker is an undergraduate student majoring in archaeology at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Her main academic interests are ancient Near Eastern archaeology and the region’s Bronze and Iron Age languages.

Courtesy Zeynep Türker.

For more information on how you can volunteer to join an archaeological excavation, visit our digs page. Whether you’re interested in the worlds of Kings David and Solomon, want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and the apostles, or work in an ancient Phoenician city, we’ve got an archaeological dig for you. Dozens of archaeological digs in Israel, Jordan, and elsewhere are looking for volunteers to help them excavate history.