The power of partnership

The power of partnership

Two master's archaeology students benefit from partner university's grants allowing them to study artifacts in Israel this summer.

By Janel Shoun-Smith | 615-966-7078 | 06/09/2026

This summer, two master's level archaeology students in the Lanier Center for Archaeology will get the chance to advance their research and knowledge of life in biblical times through work funded by grants from Ariel University in Ari'el in Israel.

Leona Cicone and Sam Becker, both in the second year of their master's studies at Lanier, will each travel to Israel to conduct cataloging and typology work of artifacts discovered at two Israeli excavation sites that both Lanier and Ariel have been involved with for many years.

Cicone, from Baltimore, Maryland, will spend six months working with a storehouse full of ground stone, stones that have been used by humans in some way such as pounding or grinding for manufacturing or preparing food, she said. There she will have access to microscopes and other technology to more effectively examine the stones.

The stones, stored in the Tel Gezer Lab, on the grounds of Jerusalem University College, were discovered at the Tel Gezer excavation site through ten seasons of excavations from 2006 to 2017. The project is now in the publications phase, and in order for researchers to move forward with theories and conclusions, all the items must be organized, identified, measured, dated, catalogued and typed.

Becker, from Dallas, Texas, will work on cataloging and interpreting plaque figurines from the Late Bronze Age (around the time of the Exodus from Egypt), which were made of clay and had domestic or cultic uses. The figurines were found at Tel Burna, a site co-excavated by Lanier (including Becker) and Ariel under the directorship of Dr. Itzhaq Shai at Ariel and Dr. Steven Ortiz, director of the Lanier Center.

The excavation phase was completed in 2024 and now scholars are in the publications phase of the project.

Becker will digitally scan the items, noting details and making comparisons to other sites, he said. He'll look at the shapes of the figurines, the color, the composition of the clay and other details to determine time periods and make comparisons to figurines found on other sites.

Both students will use their summer projects as primary data for their master's thesis research.

"Our universities have a unique partnership," said Ortiz. "Ariel has a strong archaeology and science component. In addition to partnering on these two major projects that just ended, we are also starting a new joint project together at Tel Ashdod (in Israel).

"Because of these joint research interests, we've developed a great international partnership. They are impressed with our archeology students, and their grants provide a great opportunity for our students to get international exposure and funding for public archeology," he said.

Such international partnerships are crucial for the archaeology field, in particular, as most countries do not let archaeological finds leave their borders, so students can only conduct hands-on work with artifacts in their nation of origin, said Marcella Rigsby, collections manager and education coordinator.

With its administration of eight excavation sites and two associated field projects, the Lanier Center is able to offer more breadth of potential research topics for its students, both doctoral and even at the master's level, who might not have such flexible opportunities at other universities, she said.

Cicone came to Lipscomb to build on her anthropology undergraduate degree in order to be able to teach at a collegiate level.

"I've always had a passion for history and teaching. … I was really looking for professors that combined faith, research and academic professionalism, so that's what brought me here," said Cicone.

Through tutoring students one-on-one and participating in an archaeological gig in North America, Cicone realized that Biblical archaeology could "marry these two passions of mine."

"That's what I specifically like about biblical archeology, that it allows me to incorporate both my faith and my passion for learning about people of the past," said Cicone, who particularly likes learning about the period between the Old and New Testaments-the 400 years or so between Nehemiah and Jesus.

"When you learn about the archaeology and history from this time period, you begin to see how God works through both large empires and ordinary people to pave a way for Jesus' arrival," she said.

Cicone plans to earn her Ph.D. at Lipscomb's Lanier Center and looks forward to the center's future digs at Bethsaida-el-Araj, identified as Bethsaida in the New Testament, which dates from the time period she is very interested in, she said.

Becker was running a remodeling business when he decided to go college to study philosophy and ancient biblical languages in Dallas, Texas, at Criswell College. He met Ortiz and some Lanier students at an academic conference. He was searching for his path to graduate school and after watching the Lanier students' presentations, he decided biblical archaeology was for him.

Becker said, "I love the hands-on aspect of archeology. It's just fun handling and seeing and comparing." He also expects to gain from being in a different culture and having the opportunity to see other people's research process, to potentially pick up some effective research tactics.

As of this fall, Lanier expects to have 14 students enrolled in master's level study, the most it has ever had.