BAHRA 1
Dates of work: 2 October–4 November 2017
Team:
Co-Directors: Prof. Piotr Bieliński, archaeologist (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw); Dr. Sultan Al-Duwaish, archaeologist (Director, Department of Antiquities and Museums of the State of Kuwait)
NCCAL representatives: Hamid al-Mutairi (Department of Antiquities and Museums of the State of Kuwait, Jahra branch)
Archaeologists: Dorota Bielińska (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences); Andrzej Reiche, small finds specialist (National Museum in Warsaw)
Ceramologist: Dr. Anna Smogorzewska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Malacologist: Victoria Maria Morgan (independent)
Surveyor: Piotr Zakrzewski (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Documentalists: Ewa Hander (Archaeological Museum of Chełm); Marta Momot, Agnieszka Szymczak, Dr. Urszula Wicenciak archaeologists, (all Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw University of Warsaw)
Photographer: Adam Oleksiak (freelance)
After seven seasons of fieldwork by the Kuwaiti–Polish Archaeological Mission (KPAM) at the Ubaid-period site of Bahra 1, in the Al-Subiyah region of northern Kuwait, the project implemented a study season to process the finds, prepare the results for publication and set out the most effective plans for future fieldwork. The pottery documentation was brought up to date and the whole collection was re-studied with hindsight, searching for joining pieces and technological marks. The shell specialist continued with a study of the assemblage from House 1, the most fully excavated architectural unit at the site. Archaeologists worked with the documentalists, the photographer and the topographer on preparing studies of their parts of the fieldwork record.
Acknowledgements:
The Secretary General of the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters, Dr. Eng. Ali Youha, and the staff of the NCCAL are gratefully acknowledged for their support in the project. Thanks are due also to the Polish Embassy in Kuwait for their hospitality and help in promoting the results of the KPAM work in both Kuwait and Poland.
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 27/1