Introduction

This study results from an intensive years fieldwork completed in Bahrain in 2001. This comprised two seasons of both excavations and surveys (February-May and September-November), separated by the Bahraini summer when it was deemed too hot to work effectively in the field. The rationale behind the project was various, and although the idea initially stemmed from this author, without the early approval of Shaikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, it would have proven impossible to initiate so quickly, and certainly could not have run so effectively without the active patronage and involvement of the Crown Prince.