General | Excavation Areas | Concomitant Preservation
Pottery Report | Numismatic Report

A. General

The second season of excavations at Sussita, undertaken by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa in cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences, was conducted throughout July 2001. The expedition was led by Prof. Arthur Segal, with Dr. Jolanta Mlynarczyk of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Dr. Mariusz Burdajewicz of the National Museum in Warsaw on the expedition executive.
The participation of the Polish team was made possible through the generous assistance of the following bodies: The Polish Institute, Tel Aviv, Elektrownia Turow in Bogatyni, the Remak company in Opole, and the Egbud company in Bogatyni.

Since the excavation areas in the course of the second season were more extensive than in the previous season, two area supervisors were employed: Ms. Kate Rafael and Ms. Gali Adler.
Dr. Mlynarczyk was accompanied by a group of 15 students from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. The other participants in the excavation came from the Archaeology Department at the University of Haifa, volunteers from abroad, as well as from Kibbutz Ein Gev and settlements in the area.
The excavation at the site was conducted as a learning excavation; thus, in addition to the dig in the field (working hours were from 0500-1200), supplementary activity took place every afternoon: classification of the ceramic finds, under the direction of Dr. Mlynarczyk; measuring and sketching of buildings, under the guidance of Mr. Maayan Ralbag, who also served as the expedition architect. Similarly, a number of lectures were held, and two tours conducted.
Measurements in the field were carried out with the aid of a Total Station, operated by Mr. Michael Eisenberg, who served as assistant to the head of the expedition. The expedition camp, under the responsibility of Mr. Yossi Silbiger, who served as expedition administrator, was at Kibbutz Ein Gev. It should be noted that the members of the kibbutz were very favorably disposed toward the excavation. As was done the previous season, the head of the excavation conducted a comprehensive field tour at the end of the dig, which saw the participation of scores of kibbutz members and residents of settlements in the area.
As in previous years, too, the expedition this year was greatly aided by the assistance extended by the National Parks Authority, which kindly made available a tractor as well as a preservation team (see part C, "Concomitant Preservation"), which acted to preserve sections of the buildings at several excavation areas during the course of the actual digging. Here appreciation is extended to Dr. Zvika Zuk, archaeologist of the National Parks Authority, who accompanied our work from the first day to the last.