Dr. Yorke Rowan, a project director for the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, has over 30 years of experience surveying and excavating in the Middle East. His most recent articles dedicated to the Black Desert include new discoveries published in the Journal of Field Archaeology and the Journal of Archaeological Science, while his most recent edited volume, Beyond Belief: Archaeology of Religion and Ritual, is dedicated to the examination of how archaeologists study prehistoric religion and ritual.