Like many academics, I have a two-body problem. Dan’s another archaeologist with a PhD and it’s pretty difficult to figure out a way to stick together as doubly-itinerant archaeologists. Thus I’ve been splitting my time between York and Al...

Like many academics, I have a two-body problem. Dan’s another archaeologist with a PhD and it’s pretty difficult to figure out a way to stick together as doubly-itinerant archaeologists. Thus I’ve been splitting my time between York and Al Ain, UAE. It’s hard to always be missing someone or something, but there are adventures to be had anywhere you go, and I’ve always loved a desert.

T in nearby dunes

Shamefully, I’d never heard of Al Ain before living here, but it’s the location of the UNESCO Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa). I have an active archaeological excavation at Hili that focusses on the Bronze Age, going into the second season in January, fingers crossed. When I describe the location of Al Ain, I usually say: Abu Dhabi and Dubai are on the Gulf coast (indicate by spreading my thumb and forefinger). Draw a line inland from the two to make a triangle, and that inland point is Al Ain (pinch fingers together while moving the whole hand). It’s on the border of Oman and an oasis town, with ancient irrigation systems called afalaj. It’s a date palm wonderland, and feels a little bit like living in…Dallas. Wicked hot, lots of big, expensive SUVs, malls and Applebee’s. It’s very quiet, and small-c conservative, and not a huge expat…thing…like Dubai.

Falaj amongst date palms

I’ve come to appreciate the architecture here. The “old town” has a nice blend of Arabian vernacular and 70s panache. The clean, bright lines cut through the blue skies in pleasing geometry. I realized that I don’t have very many photos as such, but I’ve been too busy to document much of my life here, or anything else, really.

The agriculture souq

It is generally a very quiet existence, which will hopefully give me more headspace for a particular project and for life in general. And maybe even blog now and again.

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