Out of anonymity—A central location for ‘peripheral’ places through people: the contributions made by Karen Frifelt and Beatrice de Cardi to an understanding of the archaeology of the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This paper documents the contributions made by Karen Frifelt and Beatrice de Cardi to the history of archaeological research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The events leading up to their study of the material culture from the UAE is reviewed and the effects of working in a Muslim, predominantly male society are discussed. ‘We are no longer obsessed with the facts of the evidence as some kind of solid factual bedrock beyond dispute, but we put more emphasis on the manner in which material culture is ‘‘read’’ by the archaeologist or appropriated in her or his discourse’ (1).