The “Gender Agenda” at Tel Abel Beth Maacah- From Classroom to Field in Search of Ancient Women

In the 2014 excavation season, a pilot program, “the Gender Agenda”, was conducted with the participation of four students from Cornell University and Azusa Pacific University, who took a course in Gender Archaeology (Cornell) and Women in Ancient Israel (APU) in their home university and joined the dig for four weeks as a continuation of their classroom work. The Biblical tradition (2 Samuel 20:14-18) of a “Wise Woman” at Abel Beth Maacah (perhaps a local oracle) was, in a way, part of the impetus to explore gender at our site.