Blurb:

This article is a study of a unique excavation undertaken in 1941 in Nahariya, a town on the northern coast of Israel/Palestine (then under the British Mandate). In a sense, it was community archaeology before “community archaeology”. I review the nature of this excavation, try to identify all the volunteers who took part in it, and discuss its results. I also compare it to an initiative of Palestinian villagers at nearby Kfar Bar‘am, aimed at taking care of the ancient synagogue there. The discussion leads to a broad definition of community archaeology, namely, the archaeology of a past community, by a living community, for a living community.