In conjunction with the exhibition Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only (2016).

Prompted by a passage from The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille in which the filmmaker recounts the demolition of the masterful sets created for the epic 1923 film The Ten Commandments, Daniel R. Small embarked on an archaeological project of gargantuan proportions. The colossal film set, which was loosely modeled on the ancient Egyptian city of Pi-Ramesses, was left by the director to decay in the sands of Guadalupe, California, just north of Santa Barbara. Concerned that other directors might use the set for their own films, DeMille had it destroyed and buried. The cultural materials that have since been recovered at the site by Small, archaeologists, and local historians are the products of decades of accumulation, their meaning and provenance infused with speculation and fantasy.