Page 21 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

Acknowledgments

The ideas for this research took form in 1973 during a Ford Foundation student
traineeship in archeology that provided my introduction to Bahrain, Intensive
research and fieldwork did not begin until 1975, when financial aid became
available. The fieldwork was funded by a grant-in-aid from the Wenner-Gren
Foundation for Anthropological Research (grant no. 3109). A significant period of
archeological research at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, followed
fieldwork in 1976. This was made possible by a George C. Marshall scholarship
awarded by Dan mark-Amerika Fondet through the auspices of the American
Scandinavian Foundation. Study in Denmark provided time to examine museum
collections from Bahrain and, more important, to interact with members of the
Danish Arabian Gulf Expedition. I am particularly indebted to T. Geoffery Bibby,
Poul Kjaerum, Karen Frifelt, and Peder Mortensen for their patience and guidance
during my attempts to learn about the archeology of Bahrain. These archeologists
magnanimously gave of their time and opened museum collections for my
inspection. Bibby allowed me to analyze collections from the north wall soundings
at Qala’at al-Bahrain. Kjaerum and Mortensen called my attention to other useful
collections from Bahrain. Mortensen also made available related collections from
his work at the Barbar Temple, but more significantly was a mentor. Karen Frifelt
provided me with her perspectives on Arabian Gulf archeology and introduced me
to her previously analyzed early and medieval Islamic ceramic collections from the
islands. Much of my knowledge of Bahrain I owe to them, but I take full
responsibility for my interpretations. While in the field, and later in Great Britain
I was aided by Michael Roaf, who made available the results of the British
Expedition to Bahrain. These data helped to fill the record of site survey on the
islands and provided additional clues to ceramic dating. Carl Helms of the

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