Story by Cailyn Derickson
Video by Gray Hurley
HUQOQ, Israel — In the military, Bryan Kohn was stationed in South Korea. He bounced between bases in Georgia, Texas and Washington. But his experience in Huqoq, Israel, on an archaeological excavation is unlike anything he’s ever done before.
And although the dig is new for Kohn, 24, he said his time in the military prepared him for the grueling physical labor and exhausting days in this ancient Galilee village.
The dig, which is led by Jodi Magness, Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at UNC, is focused on uncovering an ancient village and synagogue.
Kohn, a rising junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has had an interest in ancient history since he was 11. He played a computer game called Rome: Total War, which sparked his interest in Rome and his fascination continued when he started collecting Roman coins. He even participates in reenactments of the American Civil War, World War II and Roman battles.
He wears a wide-brimmed brown hat from his Civil War costume on the dig site every day.
Kohn chose to enter the military in 2014 because he had family members in the Marines.
“When I was younger, it was something I always wanted to do,” Kohn said. “I was that kid who every Halloween was always dressed up as a soldier. I thought it was the coolest thing.”
But when he finally was in the military, Kohn said he realized it wasn’t as glorified as he had made it up to be and felt it lacked the camaraderie that he anticipated. He left the military in 2017 because his wife was pregnant with their now 2-year-old daughter.
“It just never felt as close knit as I was hoping for,” Kohn said. “And it usually turned out there was always one guy in a position of authority. That one person either would like you or not like you and if he didn’t like you, you’re pretty much stuck until you go somewhere else.”
He said the military changed his way of thinking.
“You can’t really question anything anymore,” he said. “You go from someone asks you to jump, you ask how high to someone asks you to jump, you just jump.”
And that mindset carried over to the dig. The team woke up at 4 a.m. every morning and hiked about 1.5 miles to the dig site and dug for about 7 hours straight. Kohn never complained.
“On the site, if someone says, ‘Stop what you’re doing here and go to do this,’ I usually just immediately drop what I’m doing wherever and go to the next task — not try to finish it real quick. And that’s still kind of a carry over from when I was in the military.”
Kohn has a torn American flag, eight segments of a snake — representing the original American colonies — with the words “Join or Die” tattooed on his left forearm. He said he got the tattoo to symbolize his interest in history. After UNC, Kohn hopes to continue his education in classical archaeology in graduate school at Michigan State University.
Cody Tharaldsen, a rising senior at UNC, works in the same excavation square as Kohn. He said he and Kohn became friends before coming to Israel because they both have an interest in collecting coins.
“I like to learn about everything and he does, too,” Tharaldsen said. “I’m just interested in everything and it’s cool to talk about that together.”
Matthew Grey, a professor at BYU, is Kohn’s main supervisor. He said Kohn’s interest in history is evident on the site. “Bryan has a really inherent sense of history,” Grey said. “You could tell growing up, he’s always had a love for history from all different time periods.”
