Willeke Wendrich of UCLA leads this archaeological project. My current understanding of it -- which may be incorrect -- is that it will include both survey and excavation in the Faiyum area of Egypt.

Originally scheduled to begin in the fall of 2003, it was advanced by a year when an opportunity arose to turn part of it into a fieldschool for Egyptian antiquities inspectors. Moving a project forward a year is almost unheard of, but the funding came through and the first season will run from mid-September 2002 to the end of October 2002.

The project will be based in a house near Lake Qarun in the Faiyum, some 100 km southwest of Cairo. This area has been and continues to be an extremely important agricultural area for the country, with numerous kinds of crops being grown here. The lake itself is somewhat saline but not so bad that nothing lives in it.

The project has secured permission to conduct surveys around the entire northern shore of the lake. There will also be excavations, but I do not yet know where those will be located. Some of project staff will be most concerned with investigating ancient lake levels and the geomorphology of the region.

I will attempt to be consistent in spelling "Faiyum" but it should be noted that it often appears in many variants such as Faeyum, Fayum, Fayoum, Faiyyum, etc.

Many thanks to Jenn Reese and Kenny Smith, founders of JournalScape.com, for hosting this journal on their system.