Have you ever dreamed of unearthing ancient treasures or walking in the footsteps of history? I have. But for TerraX Crew Chief (scratch that — ya boy just got promoted to Field Director!) Grady, it’s not just a dream—it’s a messy, sweaty, exhilarating reality. From digging holes in the Israeli sun to uncovering long-lost coins, Grady’s adventures are proof that archaeology is just as exciting (and unpredictable) as it sounds.
I got on the phone with Grady to hear a little more about his adventures, and boy howdy, they are fascinating. He’s traveled to a place called Tel Azekah in Israel twice now, and over the course of those two trips, he got to do some incredible work and unearth some true treasures from the ancient world.
Xplorers, I’m extra glad you’re here today—this one is a lot of fun. Let’s dive into his whirlwind journey, where ancient amphorae (that's a two-handled storage container, usually used to transport liquids over water) meet lost watches, and every hole tells a story.
The Road to the Dig
Grady’s archaeological tale began back in 2020, when he was fresh out of Boston University and ready to make history—literally. While most of us were perfecting banana bread recipes or navigating awkward Zoom calls, Grady was interning with Andrea Berlin, a seasoned Mediterranean archaeologist.
Now, most archaeologists would point out that Indiana Jones is not exactly the perfect model of the profession—seriously Indie, not everything belongs in a museum—but Andrea’s CV reads like an Indiana Jones script. She’s spent decades doing excavations across Turkey, Cyprus, and Israel, uncovering artifacts older than your great-great-grandparents. For Grady, as a young graduate student just trying to find some direction on his career journey and earn a master’s degree in the process, her guidance and support were already priceless, but one day, she presented Grady with a golden opportunity:
Dr. Berlin offered to fully fund Grady’s fieldwork in Tel Azekah, an ancient site in Israel brimming with 5,000 years of history. In exchange, Grady agreed to frame his master’s thesis around the work they did there. Who could say no to that?!
Grady has now spent two summers there, digging through history and navigating the wild adventure that is fieldwork. During his first summer, he was hard at work — not only as a field archaeologist but as a grad student collecting data and thinking forward to writing his thesis. That first experience was amazing and eye-opening, but Grady pretty quickly realized that once just wouldn’t be enough—in his words, the “travel bug” definitely bit! “It’ll be a part of me for the rest of my life, no doubt,” he says. That’s why he chose to go back in 2024.
Tel Azekah: A Living History
Tel Azekah isn’t just an archaeological site—it’s a time machine. Grady explained to me that a “tel” is an ancient city made up of many layers. See, throughout history, as buildings have been demolished or destroyed and as civilizations have risen and fallen, people have built right on top of those old city ruins. The cool thing about that now is that you can excavate those sites and find really distinct layers showing what was on that site at different points in time. That’s the very definition of a “tel,” and Tel Azekah has seen it all, from the Early Bronze Age to the British Mandate. In fact, it’s even considered to be roughly the location of the infamous showdown between David and Goliath in the Old Testament of the Bible!
Grady’s team excavated a Persian-period citadel and late Roman structures, including interconnected limestone caves with Greek and Christian inscriptions. Y’all, the findings were rich.
As you can probably imagine, one of the most exciting parts of the work at Tel Azekah was piecing together the lives of its former residents. Grady and his team uncovered a late Roman house filled with everyday items: storage jars for food, tiny blue glass bottles, and—most intriguingly—coins.
Coins, as it turns out, are archaeological gold mines (pun intended). They’re great for dating structures and telling stories about the people who lived there. Grady found coins embedded in floors, mixed into plaster, and possibly even discarded as trash.
“Happy little accidents,” he calls them, channeling his inner Bob Ross.
Entertainingly enough, though, not all treasures were ancient. Way back on his first dig, Grady lost his dad’s watch—a sentimental gift he’d received. He’d taken it off in the site office so as to protect it from being damaged on the dig, only for it to vanish into the ether of pickaxes and gloves.
Fast forward a year: As Grady was getting ready to return to the site, he stumbled across a post from the team’s social media manager. They’d found a watch in long-term storage and posted a photo with an all call: “Does this belong to anybody?” Immediately Grady was confident the watch was his… but so was someone else. Another person who had been on the project responded too, claiming the watch might be his. So, Grady had no choice but to pull out his digging skills of a different variety… He dug up old photos of himself wearing the watch, and sure enough, every detail matched. When he got back to the site, the team was excited—and Grady was grateful!—to reunite the heirloom with its owner.
The Human Side of Archaeology
Archaeology, as Grady describes it, is a full-body experience.
“You’re physically working with a trowel or shovel, mentally working to identify textures and colors, and emotionally working to not lose your cool after hours in the sun. But the best part? It makes you feel like a kid.”
That childlike wonder is fueled by moments of discovery—like finding ancient coins embedded in a Roman floor or uncovering Christian graffiti in limestone caves. But for every thrilling find, there’s a lot of sweat equity. Grady admits that 90% of the job is just digging holes, a task he affectionately calls “busy work that takes a toll on your body.” But there’s a joy unique to archaeology that anyone can experience. At the end of the day, archaeology isn’t just about artifacts; it’s about people. Grady learned this firsthand while working long hours in the heat, digging side by side with a diverse group of volunteers.
“You get to know people pretty intimately when you’re digging holes at 5:30 in the morning,” he says. Some colleagues even found love—meeting at the dig and eventually getting married.
Now, he can’t promise you’ll meet your future spouse on an archaeological dig, but Grady still has a message for aspiring archaeologists: “Whether in the US, Israel, or Belize, anyone can volunteer and do archaeology. People bring their kids or come after they’ve retired.”
If you’ve ever dreamed of uncovering history or just want an excuse to play in the dirt, there are plenty of projects taking volunteers all over the world! Whether you find ancient coins or your own long-lost watch, one thing’s for sure: you’ll never forget the adventure. If you’re interested in joining the Tel Azekah dig, you can find all the info you need here. And if international travel is not in the cards for you right now, look into universities and non-profits in your local area—there are many MANY opportunities for you to engage with public archaeology without even leaving your home town!
Lessons from the Field
Grady’s journey is a reminder that archaeology isn’t just about the past—it’s about discovery, resilience, and the connections we make along the way. From Tel Azekah’s ancient citadels to the camaraderie of a dig crew, it’s a field that brings history to life in unexpected ways.
And for Grady, every layer of dirt holds a story. Whether it’s a forgotten coin, a Roman storage jar, or a misplaced watch, the treasures he uncovers prove that history isn’t just in the textbooks—it’s right under our feet.
Thanks for joining us on this adventure, Xplorers, and thank you to Grady for taking the time to share some of his stories with us! We hope you’re inspired to dig up some opportunities to get involved with archaeology yourself; whether halfway around the world or in your own neighborhood, archaeology is for everybody.
Until next time!
— KB
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