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Sudan archeology flourishes before the flood by Jean-Marc Mojon 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
Sudan's archaeology is finally stepping out of Egypt's shadow as teams work against the clock to rescue an entire swathe of Nile Valley heritage from the rising waters of a Chinese-built dam.
"The paradox is that, yes, an entire area is being wiped off the map but thanks to the rescue project, Sudanese archaeology is being put on the map," said Sudan's antiquities chief Salah Ahmed.
The Merowe dam is a controversial hydro-electric project -- one of the largest in Africa -- being erected on the Nile's fourth cataract and due to start flooding the valley over more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) within months.
Archaeologists admit that an incalculable amount of information will be forever lost.
But the largest archaeological rescue project since the Nubian campaign launched in the 1960s during the construction of the Aswan dam in southern Egypt has unearthed heritage that would likely have remained untapped.
"This area was completely unknown to archaeologists, it was a missing chapter in Sudan's history and nobody was planning to go there because it's very hard from a logistical point of view," Ahmed told AFP.
Sudan's pre-Christian civilisations built more pyramids than the Egyptians but have received little attention since being defeated by Egyptian warrior Pharaoh Tuthmosis I (15 century BC).
"Of course, there is no Abu Simbel here," said Ahmed, in reference to the massive temples originally carved out of the mountain under the reign of Ramses II and relocated as part of a monumental transfer when the Aswan dam was built.
But teams of archaeologists from Britain, France, Germany, Poland and a dozen other countries have been relentlessly searching the fertile Nile river banks near Merowe for at least five years now and made some significant discoveries.
Some of the artefacts found in the soon to be flooded area enabled archaeologists to redefine the borders of ancient kingdoms, such as Kerma which ruled part of Nubia between 2,500 and 1,500 BC.
"We found very rich Kerma occupation farther upstream, extending the frontiers of this important kingdom by more than 200 kilometres (120 miles)," Ahmed said.
"We also found for the first time in the fourth cataract area the foundations of a pyramid, with Meroitic ceramics. This gives political importance to the area because it shows someone important was buried there."
Funerary archaeology in the area also benefits from exceptional chronological continuity, offering experts a rare chance to retrace historical developments.
"The fourth cataract is very interesting for the study of transitional periods, which are often shrouded in mystery and uncertainty," said Vincent Francigny, a resident archaeologist at France's Khartoum-based SFDAS institute.
Only a tiny fraction of the vast area has been excavated and archaeologists, currently wrapping up their season, will have little time left to make more discoveries before the waters start rising.
In addition to scorching heat and accessibility problems, there is simmering tension between the government and local communities being evicted by the dam's growing reservoir.
The Manasir tribe, whose entire heartland will be submerged, has recently expelled foreign archaeologists, whom they accuse of helping the Khartoum regime put an acceptable face on the dam project.
Ahmed explained that a system had been agreed upon whereby a part of the artefacts recovered from the Merowe area will be handed to the teams that found them.
"Small samples can leave abroad, especially when an item exists in several copies," Ahmed said, a soft-spoken French-educated archaeologist less accustomed to the limelight than his flamboyant Egyptian counterpart Zahi Hawass.
While Egypt has aggressively promoted the recovery of artefacts housed by museums abroad and continues to play host to bitter rivalries between foreign concessions, Sudanese archaeology is enjoying a golden age of cooperation.
"All the teams work together. Archaeology is not a competition here but more like a family, which got even tighter with the fourth cataract," Francigny said.
The dam's completion will mark the end of an unprecedented period of intensive archaeology in Sudan but the lake will also swallow up countless artefacts and major Christian-era fortresses.
By the time the final exhibition retracing years of Merowe archaeological excavations takes place in the Chinese-built hall by the dam in November 2008, "the beauty of the fourth cataract will also be lost forever," Ahmed said.
One more thing will haunt some archaeologists however when the water covers the area: the thought that sitting under the dam's millions of tons of water and concrete may be a Sudanese Rosetta stone.
However unlikely, a discovery similar to that made by the French in northern Egypt in 1799 would help unlock the mystery of Meroitic, one of the world's few undeciphered scripts, which appeared in the area around 25 centuries ago.
Ahmed explained that fourth cataract finds have so far made no significant contribution to understanding the Meroitic language. "Unless, of course, there is a Rosetta stone. But if I found it, I wouldn't tell anyone."
The stone, a basalt tablet bearing inscriptions, provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.
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The dam, located a few miles upstream from the Pyramid at Nuri will also flood huge archeological riches barely tapped by a rescue project launched by the government shortly before construction got under way.
The site at Nuri, was the burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes. The oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of the Napatan king and twenty-fifth dynasty pharaoh Taharqa.
Pyramids at Nuri
Taharqa, 690-664 BC
Tanutamun, Taharqa's cousin, 664-656 BC
King Atlanersa, Taharqa's son, 653-643 BC
King Senkamanisken, 643-623 BC
King Aspelta, 593-568 BC
King Armantelqo, 568-555 BC
King Malonaqen, 555-542 BC
King Analmaaye, 542-538 BC
King Amaniastabarqa, 538-519 BC
King Irike-Amanote, 431-405 BC
Harsiyotef, 404-369 BC
King Nastasen, 335-315 BC
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The waters will spare the impressive ruins of Napata and Meroe, the two main cities of Kush - as Nubia was called at the time of its greatest power. But, archeologist Derek Welsby said the lake will submerge "several thousand" other sites ranging in age from 200,000-year-old paleolithic to medieval.
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The waters will spare the impressive ruins of Napata and Meroe, the two main cities of Kush - as Nubia was called at the time of its greatest power. But, archeologist Derek Welsby said the lake will submerge "several thousand" other sites ranging in age from 200,000-year-old paleolithic to medieval.
I bet someone could have told that to the Sudanese government, but does the Sudanese ruling elite really care that much? Sudan could perhaps use enhanced Tourist industry, as additional foreign exchange earner, but I suspect the Sudanese ruling elite is counting more on the untapped Oil reserves, and other potential natural resources.
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Sudan’s Merowe requests to stop excavating reservoir area Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Representatives of the communities that will be flooded by Sudan’s Merowe Dam have requested that archaeologists excavating the reservoir area should leave immediately.
The request follows the failure of the government to honour an undertaking that archaeological treasures salvaged from the reservoir area would not be removed to distant museums.
The dam will flood many remains of the Cush kingdom, which stretched from the Nile to Palestine more than 5000 years ago, the Leadership Office of the Hamadab Affected People (LOHAP) said.
The treasures will be lost forever to the dam’s reservoir. The local communities are not opposed to the salvage operation - but insist that saved artifacts should be housed in a local museum in line with an agreement reached with the government.
Mohmed Abdulahi Sidahmed, the head of affected people sub-committee for archeology and antiquities says " The Government of the Nile State and the National Department of Antiquities have failed to honour the commitments they made with the Manasir community regarding the archaeological works. The Mansir don’t want their history to be given to other communities therefore they agreed with the Government of Nile State and Department of National Antiquities that a museum should be built in the Manasir area to house the archaeological remains. To do this, all parties agreed to setup a joint technical committee to supervise archaeological works. However,the government of Nile state has failed to take any measures to honour what has been agreed. It is the decision of the Council of the affected Manasir that all archaeological work should be stopped until the government honours its commitment"
Ali Askouri, a member of the Manasir Committee says: " The failure to honour agreements has characterized every aspect of this dam. The government just makes false promises. The affected people are now tired of deception. Since the start of the dam, the authorities promised to build the museum in the Manasir area and set-up the technical committee with the participation of the affected communities. However, for the last six years nothing has materialized. The archaeological treasures are to be placed in a museum in another area and our history is being given to another community".
A meeting held on 18th February between the sub-committee representing the affected community and a team of archaeologists from Cologne University, led by Bettina Pertick, failed to agree on the resumption of archaeological works. Sources close to the committee said: " The archaeologists explained to the committee the importance of excavating the sites due to their irreplaceable historical value. The archaeologists were also worried that sites of unique history will be inundated next flood season when the reservoir starts filling."
Eight archaeological teams have been working in the area. Those from Germany, Czech Republic and Canada have now left to return home.
Merowe dam on the Fourth cataracts of the River Nile in Northern Sudan, is financed by Chinese Exim Bank and Arab funds. The 174 km long dam reservoir will inundate a historically rich area, which is still largely unexcavated according to British museum.
Since its start, the dam project has been marred with massive human rights abuses. In April 2006, three people were shot dead by the dam security when they refused relocation.
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