however, and over the years many employees of Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) made important surface finds that were communicated to scholars in Europe and America.

It was not until 1968 though that the first archaeological excavations were sanctioned in the kingdom. In that one year, T.G. Bibby was granted permission to work at Thaj, a large Hellenistic city in northeastern Arabia; P.J. Parr led a survey team to the Hejaz; and G. van Beek undertook a survey and soundings at Najran near the Saudi-Yemeni border. A Society of History and Archaeology was established in the history department at the University of Riyadh (now King Saud University) in 1969 (the present Department of Archaeology and Museology dates only to 1978), and in 1972, A.R. Al-Ansary, a specialist in pre-Islamic Arabian epigraphy and a student of the Leeds Semitist B.S.J. Isserlin, initiated excavations at the late pre-Islamic site of Qaryat al-Fau in the interior of Saudi Arabia where generations of Saudi nationals have gained field experience in Arabian archaeology.

A. H. Masry, a Saudi national who earned his Ph.D. under robert mccormick adams and robert j. braidwood at the University of Chicago, returned to Riyadh in 1973 as director of antiquities, and three years later, he launched an ambitious program of survey and test excavation around the country. Known as the Comprehensive Survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the project aimed at surveying the country, making surface collections, identifying sites of particular importance for future investigation and protection, and laying the groundwork for a network of provincial museums. The comprehensive survey continued until the mid-1980s and was followed by select excavations at sites such as Thaj and Tayma. Many Saudi nationals who had gained their initial training in Riyadh with Al-Ansary and later field experience in the Department of Antiquities and Museums were sent abroad during this period to do postgraduate study in the United States and Great Britain. The drop in oil revenues during the late 1980s, the ensuing budget deficit in Saudi Arabia, and the departure of Masry to a nonarchaeological post in London led to stagnation in archaeological research in Saudi Arabia.

Retrospect and Prospect

The fact that, for political reasons, little fieldwork was possible in the Arabian peninsula during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has meant that, relative to the surrounding regions, much less was known of this area until recently. Since the 1950s, however, there has been a steady stream of foreign teams working in all of the countries of the peninsula. Obviously, the rate of progress depends very much on foreign and local funding sources and political stability. Tribal wars in Yemen and the 1990 Gulf War are examples of political events that have halted or severely curtailed archaeological research on the Arabian peninsula.

The institutional framework of the archaeology being carried out by foreign teams varies greatly. Many expeditions owe their existence to the interests of one scholar who builds up a team of colleagues and brings funding from his or her nation’s public and private funding agencies. The French work in the Gulf states has been more of a coordinated effort on the part of the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), and Yemen is the only country on the peninsula with permanent, foreign research “schools” (French, German, and American). It is apparent that in the case of such schools, archaeological research is viewed as part and parcel of an overarching policy of cultural exchange between the country sponsoring the foreign teams and the host nation. In such a situation, archaeology, benefiting from government funding, is used as an arm of foreign (cultural) policy. The presence of a team from a given foreign country in a particular Arab state is viewed as beneficial by the foreign power, as its presence helps to spread goodwill, heighten awareness of that country, contribute to local heritage interests, and ultimately, sell the products of that country in a foreign market.

With the exception of the extraordinary efforts made by the Bahraini Department of Antiquities to excavate graves threatened by the construction of new urban areas, it cannot be said that the large number of foreign missions working on the Arabian peninsula has been matched by a corresponding number of local ones. National museums exist in all countries of