The Tell el-Retaba Archaeological Project aims at exploring one of the major Dynastic-period sites in Wadi Toumilat in the Nile Delta. Sitting on a strategic crossroads of the main route from Egypt to Syro-Palestine, Tell el-Retaba must have played an important role in the region at least during New Kingdom times. However, practically nothing is known of the earlier history of the site and apparently there had been a settlement there quite early on. The objective is thus to reconstruct the history of the settlement in Tell el-Retaba from the earliest times until its abandonment. During the first season at the site the team aimed at evaluating the condition of the site and identifying major threats to its preservation, locating structures excavated by Petrie at the beginning of the 20th century, and verifying and supplementing his documentation, for example, by tracing the northern defense wall. Methods included mapping, fieldwalking and geophysical survey.