After several surveys and a small expedition that drew a plan of the site in 2001, the first excavation of Sikait began in the summer of 2002. Work during this season was concentrated on the eastern part of the town. The findings of this excavation lead to the winter 2002-2003 campaign, a full-scale excavation team working in the western part of the site. Like the excavations in Berenike, the excavation team of archaeologists works together with specialists. Archeo-botanists and -zoologists, pottery-, textile- and metal-specialists, papyrologists and geologists produce a unique and highly detailed record of the past. Teams of Ababda Bedouin lead by archaeologists perform the actual excavations. The Ababda tribe has inhabited the area since the Roman times, and because of their knowledge of the desert, often provide us with guides during our surveys in the region.