In accordance with article 7 of the agreement signed by NCCAL, State of Kuwait, and the SAS Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Republic, and spurred by activities undertaken in this field in 2006, an ethnoarchaeological survey and test soundings in Al-Zor village were included into the research of KSAM on Failaka. These activities present a complementary part of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research as they facilitate our understanding of some excavated features. In many cases habitation, activities and subsistence traditions remain through many centuries or even millennia.

The standing and dilapidated buildings in Al-Zor village were photographed and their architectural and technological details as well the process of their dilapidation were documented. On the basis of this survey, a ruined mud brick house and a farm were tested with soundings. The ethnoarchaeological survey has proven the necessity of undertaking a complex approach to the excavated Bronze Age remains at Al-Khidr. As recognizable at the Bronze Age settlement, rebuilding and refurbishment phases, ground plans irregularities involved already in the first "project" of a house can be followed but not always clearly interpreted even by modern constructions. The same can be applied for the process of dilapidation itself that makes the detecting of the core and "essence" of structures the less easy the longer time has passed from the moment of their abandonment to the moment of their uncovering.

KSAM members in charge: Shehab A. H. Shehab, Lucia Benediková, Peter Barta

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