eretz
Can You
Dig It?
Former
F
o r m e r Detroiter
D e t r o i t e r follows
f o l l o w s his
h i s passion
p
to an archaeology post in Israel.
Archaeologist
Benyamin Storchan
stands on a Byzantine
mosaic floor uncovered
in Beit Shemesh.
ROB STREIT JN INTERN
B
built on antiquity sites,” he says. “In
enyamin Storchan says he feels
Israel, there are more than 30,000 reg-
like an Israeli who was mis-
istered antiquity sites, all protected by
takenly born in America. The
law.”
34-year-old Michigan native realized
Storchan grew up in West
this during his first visit to Israel at age
16 while he was on a Jewish Federation Bloomfield, attended Hillel Day School
in Farmington Hills and his family
teen mission.
belonged to the Orthodox Ohel Moed
“I felt a great inner peace from both
of Shomrey Emunah. After gradu-
the people and the land,” Storchan
ating from West
says. “After that
Bloomfield High
trip, I got the bug
School, Storchan
and said, ‘That’s
spent his fresh-
it; I want to live in
man year in the
Israel.’”
overseas student
And that’s where
program at Ben-
he finds himself
Gurion University
today. Storchan
in Beersheva. He
works for the
stumbled upon an
Israel Antiquities
archaeology lab in
Authority as a
his dorm’s base-
research excava-
ment and met an
tion archaeologist
American working as
in the Judean Hills
Storchan sits on a Mamluk olive
an archaeologist.
region. In that role,
press found in Jerusalem.
“I was fascinated
he conducts exca-
that it could actu-
vations and cata-
ally be a career. I made the decision to
logues any artifacts his team finds.
come back to America and finish my
Construction projects in the region
degree at MSU,” Storchan says.
often turn up ancient remains and
Studying anthropology with a focus
Storchan is called in to help preserve
on archaeology, Storchan went back
history.
to Israel during summer breaks to
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Senior excavating and research
archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities
Authority Dr. Amir Golani has known
Storchan since 2007.
“Benyamin was a typical nice
Jewish kid just out of college with a
B.A. in anthropology from Michigan
State and very minimal experience
in archaeology, just getting over his
beer hangover from his previous days
at college,” Golani says. “Benyamin
sobered up quickly and learned fast
how to work together at a dig.”
Golani says he is proud Storchan is
now managing large digs of his own.
Head of the Central District at the
Israel Antiquities Authority Dr. Doron
Ben-Ami says Storchan is now one of
the leading archaeologists at the orga-
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excavate at dig sites. When he fin-
ished his degree, he told his parents,
Howard and Lorraine, he was moving
back to Israel. After some protest, they
relented.
“I said, ‘You sent me to a Jewish
school where I got a Jewish education,
and this is the fruit of that.’ And they
said, ‘You’re right,’” Storchan says, cred-
iting his parents for allowing him to
pursue his passion.
nization.
Much of Storchan’s work has
focused on ancient oil burning lamps.
These lamps help archaeologists iden-
tify what happened to Jews after the
Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century.
During this time, Romans pushed
Jews out of Judea, but Storchan’s work
with lamps has shown that the Jewish
population was not totally displaced.
Lamps are also an early medium
where Jews began including religious
iconography in their crafts.
“At one excavation in the Judean
Shfela region, we uncovered a lamp
workshop where they were producing
lamps with seven-branched meno-
rahs,” Storchan says.
During another excavation that
uncovered the mosaic floor of a
Byzantine church, Storchan found a
large piece of an inscribed jar. People
of the era would inscribe pottery when
they had no parchment to write on.
“It had Hebrew letters that stated
what kind of wine was in the jar and
who it was for,” Storchan says. “I
thought it was so fascinating that I
could come to Israel, dig up such a
thing and no one had to teach me an
ancient language to read it.”
The archaeologist sometimes finds
his work at odds with his spirituality.
He admits that the two aspects of his
life are on the polar extremes, but he
doesn’t always try to bridge the gap.
For Storchan, the belief begins when
the proving ends.
“Judaism says the world was created
around 6,000 years ago, but I can tell
you that 12,000 years ago there was
the first farming in Israel,” Storchan
says. “How can a man with a kippah
say such a thing? I have like a split
brain.”
Storchan still feels a connection to
Michigan and comes home on occa-
sion.
“I’m very much a Hockey Town boy.
Whether or not I get to see the games,
it’s still in my blood,” Storchan says. “I
miss proper winters — you don’t know
what you have until it’s gone.”
Storchan is finishing his master’s
thesis and lives in Geva Binyamin,
an Israeli settlement just outside of
Jerusalem. •
N. PETER ANTONE
JEFFREY S. PITT
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