Research Projects
	Some Mariifs
There are smaller things that come and go, but the four most important current projects, in order of seniority, are Safsaf, Sinai, South Africa and San Juan. (I have not considered the significance of their all beginning with “S”.)
The San Juan project is an analysis of the flaked stone artefacts recovered from an area called “OpD” of English Camp, a late prehistoric site (45-SJ-24) on San Juan Island, Washington. The artifacts themselves have been studied and write-up is well along the way. The detailed account will, one hopes, be published as a monograph. In the meantime, the project has made its only public appearance as a paper given at the SAAs in April 2004, which includes excellent drawings by Gail Wendorf.	For those interested, this is the 2004 SAA paper, which has no data and no references.
The various Safsaf studies are based on data derived from an extensive mapping and refitting project, carried out near Bir Safsaf in southwestern Egypt. This region is covered by aeolian sands, which form low ripples, 1-2 m high and oriented northeast-southwest. The ripples define a series of more or less parallel depressions, or ripples, 100-500 m long and <200 m wide. Towards the southeast, the ripples become less pronounced and finally grade into the flat sandsheet. The surface of the sands is armoured and its morphology has remained essentially unchanged throughout the Holocene..	One of the most desolate landscapes on earth, but not without its small comforts.
The area was used by Neolithic groups during the wet phases of the middle Holocene (from about 7000 BP to before 5500 BP), and, to a less extent, of the early Holocene (>8000 BP). Traces of human activities from these periods, in the form of stone artefacts and a few, more perishable materials, remain littered across the armoured surface. There are no outcrops of stone in the immediate area, so that all stone, even unworked pieces, had to be brought in, and owes its location to prehistoric human action. Further, the local absence of stone meant that it was a valuable material to users of stone tools, who therefore recycled artefacts to an unusually high degree. Most of the material is quartzitic sandstone, available from outcrops 10-15 km north of the survey-area	A selection (small) of some of the stone artefacts collected from the Safsaf ripple
Working in an area of ca. 15 km² (5.6 × 2.5 km), we attempted to map and collect every single piece of stone. The overall distribution of artifacts correlates very closely with the topography. Almost all of the sites among the ripples are on the north-facing slope of a ripple, and, in that the ripples themselves are topographically distinct, the set of sites in one ripple is always clearly separated from the set of sites in another ripple. Mapping and collection were followed by the refitting of artifacts. These two sources of data, the mapping and the refitting, provide an unusually fine-grained opportunity to trace what-was-done-where,-when,-and-even-why.	A largely refitted core. The scale is in units of 5 cm.
Some of this has been published in various places.	Click here for an unannotated and non-descriptive list of related publications.
Sinai, defined by the rifts of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, is geographically distinct from both Africa and Asia, but also serves as a connection between them. Historically, therefore, archaeologists have tended to emphasize Sinai’s connective rôle, and archaeological exploration has focused on the northern part of the peninsula. However, during periods of lowered sea-levels in the Pleistocene, the land-bridge included what is now the Gulf of Suez, while, in the Holocene, crossing the Gulf directly from southwestern Sinai has involved only a short and relatively hazard-free sea-trip. The results of a preliminary archaeological survey and subsequent excavations carried out in southwestern Sinai suggest that area may have played an important rôle in exchanges between Africa and Asia during the Holocene and may also have taken part in the regional development of social complexity. The University of Washington Archaeological Expedition to Sinai conducted fieldwork in 1995 and 1996, concentrating in the areas of Wadis Sidri and Mukattab in the north, the lower reaches of Wadi Feiran, the plain of El Qaa and adjacent piedmont from Feiran to El Tur, and the coastal area from Wadi ‘Araba to Hammam Mousa. In 1998, we conducted extensive excavations at El ‘Awag, some 10 km North of El Tur within El Qaa, and at Wadi Abu Gedar, on the eastern margin of El Qaa, Among and on the edges of Tertiary remnants at El ‘Awag is a series of almost 30 stone structures, most of which are tombs. These tombs are part of a previously unreported tradition which was widespread in southwestern Sinai. They are now known to occur from Wadi Izbi’, in the northernmost part of the survey area, as far south (at least) as Wadi Abu Gedar. The largest of the tombs at El ‘Awag has maximum dimensions of ca. 14 m and the outer enclosure is almost square, with a carefully constructed wall of large stones, with pairs and triplets of very large stones (up to 0.5 m high) set at intervals within the wall. It was almost completely excavated.	Click here for annotated (but not very informative) pictures of Sinai. On the other hand, there are also things pertaining to food (it really was a hand-made, mashed-potato chicken with celery at the rear end), and the obsession of some with their vehicles: Tom and his Toyota; Daoud and his Land-Rover; Abdu and his “Gims”; Yasser and his Niva. Sigh.
Among and on the edges of Tertiary remnants at El ‘Awag is a series of almost 30 stone structures, most of which are tombs. These tombs are part of a previously unreported tradition which was widespread in southwestern Sinai. They are now known to occur from Wadi Izbi’, in the northernmost part of the survey area, as far south (at least) as Wadi Abu Gedar. The largest of the tombs at El ‘Awag has maximum dimensions of ca. 14 m and the outer enclosure is almost square, with a carefully constructed wall of large stones, with pairs and triplets of very large stones (up to 0.5 m high) set at intervals within the wall. It was almost completely excavated.	Here be pictures of the largest tomb at El ‘Awag, at the very beginning of excavation (from the adjacent jebel) and later in excavation (from outside the “wall”).
The funerary monuments of El ‘Awag are not directly associated with living sites. However, several such sites have been identified the eastern side of El Qaa. The most important group is north of the mouth of Wadi Abu Gedar. These include the walls of more or less circular houses, one or two courses high, 2-8 m in diameter, and occurring singly or in contiguous complexes of up to eight “rooms”. Some are built so as to incorporate extremely large granite boulders into their walls. Several were excavated in 1998.	This goes to a ridiculously (you have been warned) detailed account of the 1995 survey. (It is a PDF file and requires Acrobat Reader.)
South Africa, on the other hand, is still very much a work-in-development. In 1999, I spent a large chunk of the summer exploring some of the possibilities and, thanks to marvellous friends and colleagues, it was quite splendid. The possibilities are not quite endless, but are certainly many and varied. There are, however, differing opinions on the direction in which a research project ought to go.	Click here for differences of opinion.
Many wonderful and exciting things – not to mention lots of fine archaeology – go on at Duinefontein, but the nuclear power-plant in the background really does tend to loom.	Duinefontein and its looming power-plant.
Of course, South African archaeology is justly famous for its coastal cave-sequences. However, I am not sure that I am really a coastal-cave-sequence sort of person, and even some of the best of the caves, such as Die Kelders, seem to have fallen on rather hard times.	Hard times at Die Kelders
On the other hand, the Seacow Valley (Professor Sampson is very good at pointing at things), or something like it, with vaguely tolerable amounts of vegetation and thing surface scatters of stone artefacts, could be like Safsaf all over again.	Professor Sampson pointing to the Seacow Valley
This could be remarkably interesting, not least in a comparative sort of way. Still and all, I cannot help but feel mild apprehension about some of the local eateries.	A local eatery
Decisions have yet to be made. Meanwhile, I have worked with Garth Sampson on some of his Seacow material, and we are also conducting a campaign to study all the thumb-nail scrapers in the region. (Or perhaps it just feels that way.)	Click here for a list of related publications.
P.S. As an afterthought, but still with the “S” theme, research also goes on in Seattle, but here, as in the Cape, investigators do not always agree in which direction to search.	Desperately seeking something in Seattle