A note on the dating of the clay smoking pipes collected in the course of two archaeological surveys conducted in Saudi Arabia: the Comprehensive Survey of Saudi Arabia (1976–1981) and Michael Gilmore’ s survey of the Darb al-Hajj Introduction The Ottoman clay smoking pipe, known as the chibouk, has been found in archaeological contexts in the Aegean and Near East (e.g. Robinson 1983; Gilmore, al-Hiwah & Resseeni 1984: pl. 123, no. 5; Matney 1997; Simpson 2000). Until the research by Hayes (1980) and Robinson (1983; 1985) this category of material culture was largely ignored by many archaeologists (Robinson 1983: 265, n. 1, 269; 1985: 157–158). The clay pipe typologies posited by Hayes (1980) and Robinson (1983; 1985) demonstrated that changes do occur in the form of clay smoking pipes throughout the Ottoman period. As a result it is now possible to date specific forms of clay smoking pipes to particular centuries within the Ottoman period. Robinson’ s seminal research provided a basis for scholars outside the Aegean to embark on similar typological and chronological studies (e. g. Matney 1997: 74, n. 10; Dekkel 2008: 199). Archaeological surveys conducted in Saudi Arabia from 1976 to 1983 collected a small number of clay tobacco pipes (Table 1). For example, in the course of the Comprehensive Archaeological Survey of the King- dom of Saudi Arabia three survey teams, led by Gilmore (Gilmore, Ibrahim & Murad 1982), Whalen (Whalen et al. 1981) and Zarins (Zarins et al. 1979; 1980; Zarins, Murad & Al-Yish 1981) collected eight clay tobacco pipes and three additional smoking pipes that we suggest were not recognised as such. Illustrations of these artefacts were published in a series of preliminary reports that appeared in Atlal (Zarins et al. 1980; Zarins, Murad & Al-Yish 1981; Whalen et al. 1981; Gilmore et al. 1982). Following the conclusion of the Comprehensive Survey, Gilmore conducted another survey along a portion of the Darb al-Hajj (Gilmore et al. 1984). In the course of this fieldwork, one clay smoking pipe was collected and published in Atlal (1984: pl. 123, no. 5). The smoking pipes retrieved by these projects were broadly attributed to the ‘Ottoman’ period (e.g. Whalen et al. 1981: pl. 53/20, 21, 23). Several clay smoking pipes (chibouks) were recovered during the course of two archaeological surveys conducted during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Saudi Arabia. At the time these projects took place, no published clay tobacco pipe typologies existed, forcing the participants to assign a cursory date of ‘Ottoman period’ to the pipes. Since then, considerable archaeological research has been done on the Ottoman clay pipe. The following concerns the refining of the dates of these tobacco pipes in light of new studies. Keywords: Arabia, chibouk, clay tobacco pipe, survey Aimee C. Bouzigard, Independent researcher Benjamin Adam Saidel, Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, East Fifth Street, Greenville, NC 27858, USA e-mail: aimee.bouzigard@gmail.com, saidelb@ecu.edu Arab. arch. epig. 2012: 23: 116–124 (2012) Printed in Singapore. All rights reserved 116