When AERA first began excavations on the Giza Plateau, Mark Lehner outlined two areas in which he suspected there may be settlement remains. Area A, south of the Wall of the Crow, and Area B, the so-called "Kromer" dump to the west of the Gebel el-Qibli.

Since then, the areas first explored in 1988 have retained the Area A designation – hence AA (and the A7 Bakeries), and the areas which immediately adjoin AA; AA-S, FS1 and AA-FS.³

In Area AA the team discovered what has become known as "the Pedestal Building," the precise function of which remains somewhat mysterious. The building contains a series of pedestals 50–70 cm wide, 75–120 cm long, and around 55–65 cm high, placed next to each other, with around 9–17 cm gaps between them. Many of the pedestals retain traces of plaster covering a small "ledge" on the top, suggesting that something may have been placed bridging the gaps between these platforms. In some cases a ceramic jar (form AB, a so-called "beer" jar) was found placed upright on the ground, nestled in these gaps.⁴

During the AERA-ARCE 2005–2007 Field Schools, Area AA was expanded to the east (FS1),⁵ and then again to the north in the 2007 Field School (AA-FS), revealing an open court containing a number of ovens⁶, and a bakery⁷. During the 2015 Field School, AA was expanded a third time, to the south (AA-S), in order to ascertain the stratigraphic link between AA and a large house complex in the Soccer Field West area of site (SFW-H1, see below). AA-S contained a small complex containing an open court to the south, surrounded by a series of rooms, including a small domestic (cooking) space, a storage room, and a small closet containing two pedestals.⁸

³Taylor in M. Lehner, M. Kamel, and A. Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Seasons 2006-2007 Preliminary Report, Giza Occasional Papers, 3 (Boston: Ancient Egypt Research Associates, 2009), pp. 78–86.

⁴Lehner, Kamel, and Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Seasons 2006-2007 Preliminary Report, pp. 65–69; M. Lehner and W. Wetterstrom, 'Enigma of the Pedestals: 2006 - 2007 Field Season', AERAgram, 8.2 (2007), 1–3.

⁵ M. Lehner, M. Kamel, and A. Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminary Report, Giza Occasional Papers, 2 (Boston: Ancient Egypt Research Associates, 2006), p. 69.

⁶Lehner, Kamel, and Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Seasons 2006-2007 Preliminary Report, pp. 69–77.

⁷H. Mahmoud and J. Taylor, 'A Preliminary Report on the AA Bakery', in Settlement and Cemetery at Giza. Reports from the 2010 AERA-ARCE Field School (Boston: Ancient Egypt Research Associates, 2015), pp. 35–54.

⁸'Another Official's House Emerges in Season 2015', ed. by W. Wetterstrom, AERAgram, 16.2 (2015), 18–21.