Despite Dr. Bawden's criticisms ‐ some of which seem to be based on his misunderstanding of previous arguments ‐ the author reaffirms his view that the development of “oasis urbanism” in the Hejaz at the end of the 2nd millennium was at least in part the result of Egyptian trading contacts with the region. The available evidence does not allow us to conclude that this phenomenon survived into the early 1st millennium, however, and it is more likely that the area became nomadized for several centuries, perhaps until the Neo‐Babylonian occupation of Tayma in the mid‐si