Does a dig director look at an archaeological excavation differently than a volunteer? I have been both, so I am in an excellent position to answer the question. The answer is, well, yes and no.

Last summer Avner Raban of the University of Haifa’s Center for Maritime Studies and I co-directed our first season of excavations—on land and at sea—at Caesarea, the great seaport city built by Herod the Great on the Mediterranean coast of modern Israel. We call the expedition the Combined Caesarea Expeditions.