| Past and present point to the divine for UM archeologist BY MARY CAHILL
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT Archeologist Glenn Schwartz was looking for a 3,800-year-old Syrian city, but instead he found a tomb that had lain undisturbed for 4,300 years. In the summer of 2000, Schwartz, a member of St. Johns UMC in Baltimore and professor of Near Eastern Studies-Archeology at Johns Hopkins University, was in Umm el-Marra, Syria, on a National Geographic Society research grant. Schwartz and colleague Hans Curvers were leading a team excavating a tell, a mound or hill that develops when generation after generation repeatedly build new structures on top of the ruins of earlier ones. We were actually excavating the remains of one of the upper layers for a city that existed later, around 1800 B.C., said Schwartz. A team member found an unbroken pot, indicating that the site had been undisturbed. The pot was much older than they were expecting it to be. When they dug further and hit bone, they knew they had discovered a tomb. According to a Hopkins news release, outside the south wall of the tomb, the team found a jar containing the remains of a baby, a spouted jar and two decapitated skulls, horselike but apparently belonging neither to horses or donkeys. According to Schwartz, this tomb might be the oldest intact royal tomb in Syria. The site itself may be part of the lost city of Tuba, mentioned often in second and third millennium B.C. writings. The discovery at Umm el-Marra is not the first time Schwartz has found something valuable that he wasnt looking for. About 10 years ago, some friends invited him to come play piano at their church. He went and found that the congregations inclusive approach, their focus on social justice and the creative character of their worship had a strong appeal for him. Hes been a member of St. Johns UMC ever since. He still makes music and he is also the church treasurer. Schwartzs work in archeology is not separate from his faith. It enhances my appreciation of the world God has made both past and present, he said. Archeology is all about the past and humanity how it functions and changes. It contributes to our understanding of what were all about: how we are similar to people in the past, but with cultural and social differences. Regardless of when these cultures existed, from the ancient past up to the present, Schwartz said, They all have one thing in common: their persistent reaching out for the divine. | 
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