ALONG THE NILE THROUGH THE ARCHIVES AND INTO THE WEB. A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY OF ROME IN SUDAN

The history of the archaeological expeditions conducted in Sudan by Sapienza University of Rome – until the early 1980s, simply called University of Rome, being at that time the only university in the capital of Italy – represents an important part of the history of the Italian commitment to the safeguarding of the Sudanese archaeological heritage and it is closely connected to the well-known rescue campaign of Nubian monumentspromoted by UNESCO on the occasion of the construction of the “Great Dam” of Aswan, which determined the formation of Lake Nasser and the consequent submerging of monuments that were not, at that time being, moved elsewhere. In order to describe, albeit briefly, these archaeological activities we need to look back over the long, continuous and fruitful collaboration between Italy and Sudan. This brief virtual exhibition, of archival inspiration, makes use, among the other resources, of documentary materials collected by the protagonists of the expeditions and deposited in part at the Museum of the Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean (MVOEM) of Sapienza University. It aims to illustrate the results of the “historical” missions of Sapienza to Sudan – in Tamit (1964), Sonqi Tino (1967-1970) and Jebel Barkal (1973-2004), in addition to various other explorations carried out in those same years between the second and fourth cataracts of the Nile –, but at the same time looks to the future of the relations between Sapienza and the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), two institutions which together, through a joint mission, will work at the Meroitic temple of Hugair Gubli and in the area of Magal (fourth cataract).