BAT ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT
BAP exists to connect communities today to the Omani cultures of yesterday. We employ multidisciplinary approaches to create spaces where stakeholders can access the benefits of Bat’s archaeological record, both material and intangible.
ABOUT THE BAT ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT
Archaeology in an Arabian Oasis
The archaeological site of Bat is an oasis settlement and necropolis located in the arid piedmont of the Hajar Mountains in the Sultanate of Oman. Bat has been occupied from the Neolithic to the modern day and is, thus, one of the most important heritage centers in southeast Arabia. The site was inscribed onto the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1988 as "the most complete collection of settlements and necropolises from the 3rd millennium B.C. in the world."
The Bat Archaeological Project (BAP) has carried out field research at the site since 2007 with the support of the Penn Museum and the Omani Ministry of Heritage and Culture. While research initially focused on the site's monumental third millennium towers, over the years the project has broadened its scope to consider settlement and tomb contexts from a range of periods. Beginning in 2018, BAP embarked on a new phase of archaeological research investigating the cultural ecology and occupational history of the oasis center and its surrounding environs, particularly that of the Umm an-Nar Period (ca. 2700-2000 BCE). This website introduces the new phase of BAP research and the researchers leading the way into the trenches: Dr. Jennifer Swerida (Leiden University), Dr. Selin Nugent (Oxford Brookes University), and Robert Bryant (University of Pennsylvania).
NEH FUNDING
The Bat Archaeological Project has been selected as a recipient of the 'Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research' grant by the US National Endowment of the Humanities. Our new research – Beyond the Oasis: The Ancient Cultural Landscape of Bat and the Sharsah Valley – will study the processes of social place-making carried out by Bat's Early Bronze Age inhabitants.
PROJECT DIRECTOR: JENNIFER SWERIDA
Assistant Professor in the Archaeology of West Asia, Leiden University
Consulting Scholar, Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania
ABOUT ME
A New Jerseyan by birth, I left my childhood home at the beach to pursue my dream career in archaeology. I earned my BA in Archaeology and Art History from Boston University in 2008. In 2010, I received an MA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, with a focus on archaeology, from the University of Pennsylvania. I then began a PhD in Near Eastern Studies at the Johns Hopkins University and graduated in December 2017. Throughout my education, I pursued fieldwork in various parts of the world, including Syria, Azerbaijan, Oman, Ethiopia, Iraqi Kurdistan, the UK, and the US. Of these locations, no where captured my heart quite like the rugged beauty, generous soul, and archaeological depths of the Sultanate of Oman. In my dissertation on Oman's Early Bronze Age, "Housing the Umm an-Nar: The Settlements and Houses of Bat," I use the previously under-studied third millennium occupational contexts at Bat to shed new light onto the lifeways and social organization of the Umm an-Nar period society.
Since graduating, I have continued to develop my research at Bat and in the Bronze Age of southeast Arabia broadly. I've also enjoyed instructing students at Monmouth University, University of Pennsylvania, the American University of Beirut, Kennesaw State University, and Bryn Mawr College. In 2024, I began my current position as Assistant Professor in the Archaeology of West Asia at Leiden University.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Archaeology of Mobile Peoples; Material identity; Alternative social complexities; Interplay of semi-mobile and sedentary groups/lifesways
PROJECTS: NEW AND ON-GOING
As Director of the Bat Archaeological Project, I am particularly interested in Umm an-Nar settlement contexts in the Bat landscape and what those remains can reveal about ancient social organization, lifeways, and identities at the site. By studying house contexts, I aim to understand Umm an-Nar society from the bottom up and from a perspective that complements the substantial insight already available from mortuary studies.
In my second archaeological life, I am also Assistant Director of the Naxcivan Archaeological Project, in the Naxcivan Province of Azerbaijan. In this project, I investigate identity formation and negotiation between mobile and sedentary groups who shared the same landscape.
Outside of my archaeological interests, I am a dedicated distance runner and have competed in over 20 marathons and ultra-marathons on three continents. When in the field, I use daily training runs as a way to organically experience the landscape. My runs in and around Bat have also helped me to get to know the community and to raise local awareness of BAP's research.
First Aid/CPR/AED certification valid through 2025.
PROJECT DIRECTOR: SELIN NUGENT
Assistant Director of the Centre for AI, Culture and Society, Oxford Brookes University
ABOUT ME
My journey into archaeology started at 9 years old in Turkey. A friendly archaeologist neighbor had invited me to meet his team of archaeologists and try my hand at excavation at the ancient Greek city of Assos. I recorded my research in a purple, heart-shaped journal with a tiny padlock for extra data security. From then on, I was hooked on studying ancient cultures and heritage. I earned my BSci in Anthropology and BA in Ancient Mediterranean Studies from Emory University in 2012. I then went on to complete my MA (2013) and PhD (2017) in Anthropology from The Ohio State University. Today, I’m dedicated to helping others discover their own connection to history, whether through improving access to sites and monuments in their own backyard, by exploring the past the medium of emerging digital technologies, and/or through creative expression through arts and crafts.
As co-director of the Bat Archaeological Project, I focus on making our research into Bat's ancient past accessible to today’s Bat community. My work integrates community interviews for impact assessments, educational events for youth engagement, and explores how emerging technologies influence our relationship with cultural heritage. My research delves into the social impacts of AI and data science in heritage studies, examining how computational tools shape identity and the commodification of ancient sites / monuments. I am particularly interested in how heritage research can help communities develop digital skills, promote well-being, sustain dialogue, and address inequality. With fieldwork experience across Western Asia, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Oman, I combine computational, ethnographic, and field-based methods in my work.
I am also a ceramic artist and one of my favourite activities at Bat is making pottery with our project's students and with our neighbours in Bat. During evenings on site, you may find me foraging for wild clay in the wadis, hand-building vessels, digging firing pits in the desert, or foraging for camel dung and palm fronds for some epic pyrotechnic firings.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Community Archaeology | Digital Heritage / Archaeology | Participatory Research & Outreach | Data Ethics
PROJECTS
- Beyond the Oasis and Within the Community: Community Archaeology Living Lab
- Digital Preservation and Reconstruction of the Husn al-Wardi, Bat
- The Wadi Dig Club 🏺- Pottery crafting meets experimental archaeology for Bat Residents of all ages
- Ritual landscapes of Bat
OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
How did the Umm an-Nar cultivate their landscape to sustain long-term settlement?
How did these strategies vary across space and environmental conditions?
How interconnected (socially and economically) were Umm an-Nar settlements on the same landscape?
How did Umm an-Nar land-use and lifeways facilitate complexity in these diverse conditions and ecological strategies?
How can the socio-ecological strategies of the Umm an-Nar inform modern efforts to develop sustainable ecological systems?
GET IN TOUCH
Contact the Bat Archaeological Project and follow our progress at:
