You can read about this in the pages that follow. I believe that the future is full of promise. A wide range of field expeditions are underway. In Syria, Tony Wilkinson's Beydar survey has uncovered a revealing pattern of settlement, desertion, and reoccupation which bolsters theories of Bronze Age nomadization in that area, while at the other end of the Oriental Institute's chronological scale Don Whitcomb has been laying bare some crucial evidence for early Islamic urbanization in Qinnasrin. Also from Egypt, Mark Lehner's Giza project once again appears in our pages, and will be reported on regularly.
Exciting things are about to happen in the world of dictionaries.
You will be hearing more about these in future editions of this report, but for the moment you can read about the steady progress of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary, and how the Demotic Dictionary and, that flagship of Oriental Institute projects, the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary are closing in on their goals. All of these efforts rely heavily, as always, on the research environment provided by the Computer Laboratory and the Research Archives. Finally, this year of course has been the year of the reinstallation of the Egyptian Gallery. This past year has indeed been one of activity, change, and new beginnings. The faculty and staff have prepared the Oriental Institute for the new millennium.