Rotary speaker highlights archaeology in the Holy Land
Sep. 14—ASHLAND — Guest speaker Richard Hess shared two of his favorite things — faith and archaeology — with the Ashland Rotary on Monday.
Hess is a retired storm assessment coordinator for the local power company with 42 years of experience, and a member of First Baptist Church in Ironton. He has visited Egypt, Jordan and Israel 19 times over the years and enjoys walking the paths walked by notable figures in the Bible.
Hess has an archaeological background and has studied the region extensively.
His passion for archaeology has led Hess to a lot of different places, even the city of Pompeii that was enveloped by the wrath of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
According to Hess, his favorite "digs" were those in the Holy Land.
"My interests are in Biblical archaeology, with the land of Israel," Hess said.
Hess treated the Rotary to a slideshow of the archaeological sites he'd visited and explained a little about archaeological goals and practices. It is painstaking and slow, but can yield wonderful results and treasures of knowledge and artifacts that reveal tangible evidence of history, he said.
Archaeology can be compared to detective work, Hess said. It can lead to clues that help shed light and give insight to mysteries such as the giant stone heads on Easter Island and the earthworks of ancient peoples, many miles in length that can only truly be seen from an aerial view.
Near to Hess' own heart is how archaeology can be used to place the actual geographical locations such as the crossing of the Red Sea from the Bible.
Hess also indicated that archaeology has so many enemies from humans who seek to rob or destroy history to the ravages of time.
The act of discovering artifacts (especially those of papyrus or cloth) can compromise their integrity and open them up to further denigration from the air and elements.
"When you uncover something, you have to work quickly to preserve it, like in the case of the Dead Sea Scrolls," Hess said. "Earthquakes are another challenge to archaeology, and a lot of archaeology is underwater archaeology where civilizations have fallen into the ocean."
Hess said a large number of the archaeologists in Israel are atheists. That, in itself, however, was less surprising to him than another thing he learned — a large number of those atheists actually use the Holy Bible in their research for historical locations and historical figures.
"So even those who are professed atheists use the Bible as an historical document," Hess said.
Hess shared his many experiences at numerous digs across that region, as well as the notable scientists he has made friends with and learned from over the years. His love of history and archaeology is something he credits to his mother, who introduced him to it at an early age.
Hess is on Facebook, where he shares many of his finds and stories, and is anticipating an actual website sometime in the near future.
(606) 326-2655 — cromans@dailyindependent.com
