A lthough H a rding did n o t h ave a ma.jor d ev ote d to arch ae– o logy, the Soci ety o f Near East– ern Arch aeo logy allowe d s tu – d e nts to become familia r w ith the fie ld of study . Members of the society came fr om many diffe rent are as o f s tud y, including Bible, history and sociol ogy. Junio r RobertConn, p res ident o f the society, studi ed his to ry as w e ll a s Greek and La tin. He became inte res ted in the socie ty beca u se the informa tio n ava ilable to h im through the o r– ga ni za tion was be ne fi cial. Dr. Dale Mano r, associa te p ro– fessor of Bible and sponsor fo r the society, star te d supervi s ing a nd volunteering fo r a rchaeologi– ca l digs in 1985. While h e ha s some know le d ge in this field , Ma nor said h e sh ould no t be cons id e red an expert. " If you we re to as k me wha t I tho ught about some dig going o n at ancient Ma ya n ru ins, I would no t know/' Manor said. Freshman Brad Lawing entertains a child during Fall Fest Oct. 19. The annual carnival for the youth of Kensett provided Bible and service organizations an opportunity to help the community. (Photo by Renee Lewis) Senior Daniel Dolfie, Dr. Ken Neller, pro– fessorofBibleandGordonHogan,missionary in residence, discuss a biblical topic in an AlphaChi Malachimeeting.AlphaChi Malachi provided students with additional resources for ministry. (Photo by Renee Lewis) • • 186 organizations Main ac ti vities for the SOciety cent e re d o n their ne w s letter, Digfinds. The cl ub ga the red in formation th rough various trade journal s, summa ri zed what th ey ga the red anc;i fin a ll y compiled the infor– mation. The newsletter was distributed to many different loca tions, in– cludin g mi ssio na ries ac ross the country. Missiona r ies ove rseas recei ved th e newslette r on a regu– lar bas is as well. Anothe r ac ti vity the soc iety en– joyed was wa tching videos of tele– vision programs about va rious as– pects o f a rchaeolog y and critiqu– ing them fo r accura cy . In prev ious yea rs, the club hos ted Zv i Lederman, researcher of archaeology in Tel Av iv, who spo ke about the excava tions that ha ve occurred in Is rae l. "We like to look at eve ry th ing that peop le have d one," Manor sa id . "That incl udes everything from agriculture to soc ial events." Archaeo logy has to do wi th aspects of humani ty . In ways it is like the study of anth ropol ogy. The main diffe rence is tha t it uses almos t a ll as pects of modern ed uca tion . Biology, economics and soE1o logy are all releva nt topics fo r an a rchaeolog is t, who h as to look a t every thing he or she fin ds a nd as k, "What did they do with this?" Even w ith archa eolog ists find – ing con crete physical ev id ence, archaeology is not considered an exac t science. "There is a lo t o f theo retica l d ebate about it," Manor sa id . Archaeo logy was often seen as a g lamorous pro fession in th e pas t. Howe ve r, s ince archaeo lo– gists discove red the wealth of the pyramid ofTu tankamen, studen ts lea rned the tru th about the ar– chaeology fi eld . " It is not g lamorous," Manor sa id . "It is ted io us, with a lo t of time spent in labo ratories, read – in g a nd resea rching." -Sara Rabon
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