‘3,000 Years of History Are Literally Just Beneath Our Feet’
‘3,000 Years of History Are Literally Just Beneath Our Feet’
By John Van Sickle
September 20, 2013
Cynthia Robinson, who has researched the human history of Jerusalem, is now looking for the remains of more than 30,000 people from the past. In an interview, The National’s John Van Sickle asked Robinson, “Why do you keep going to these locations and do you have a hope of figuring out where they are?”
First of all, Robinson says, “It’s pretty much about an obsession.” She began working on the project in 1994 and has been visiting the sites ever since.
“It is so much fun. It is a wonderful time of the year to be exploring the ancient history,” she says.
Robinson says, “In some ways, you are on the ground when you are making these kinds of trips and we are looking at layers upon layers of history. The more you can look at things like this, the deeper you get into it.”
“The more you can look at things like this, the deeper you get into it.” – Cynthia Robinson
Robinson is a professor of art at the University of Tennessee. She is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Middle East archaeology.
According to Robinson, “The sites that have been turned over to us we did not see in the first couple of years that we were doing it.”
Robinson says they’ve turned over more than 30,000 objects that tell about the history of Jerusalem and the nearby ancient city of Edom.
Some of the most telling objects are the ancient coins that have been recovered from the site, including two types that Robinson says are thousands of years old.
Robinson says, “We are looking at different layers, different