Israeli Kids Help Excavate 900-Year-Old Crusader Fortress
Exploring Masada. Image by Liza Schoenfein
Israel is home to some of the world’s richest archaeological treasures – from the Iron Age, to the time of the Hebrews, to the Middle Ages, through the modern period.
Now, students in the Modiin-Maccabim-Re’ut are helping uncover some of those antiquities, participating in excavation efforts near their hometown.
Recently, the kids participated in the find of precious jewelry from the Crusades, when a fortress stood on a site near their villages.
“You get to find things and then you can take pictures and remember the time that you found things from hundreds of years ago, and even more,” 9-year-old Kinneret Goodman told the Times of Israel.
Avraham Tendler, the leader of the excavation, credited the kids – who range from the 4th to 12th grade – for their help with the dig.
“The students and volunteers from Modiin have exposed the inner courtyard of the Crusader fortress. Here, the fortress’s occupants cooked and baked for hundreds of years during the Middle Ages, some 900 years ago,” he told the Times of Israel.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
