AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

This paper reports on recent conservation and site preservation efforts at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jebel Barkal, with a focus on how the catastrophic civil war in Sudan has challenged, altered, and expanded our team’s mission. 

Located along the Nile in northern Sudan, the archaeological site of Jebel Barkal preserves one of the most important ancient cityscapes in Africa. Its archaeological remains document two millennia of unique artistic, social, political, and religious achievements by the powerful, ancient African empire of Kush and include temples, palaces, a settlement area, and more than 20 royal pyramid burials. Prior to the recent civil war, the site was a popular attraction for both international and Sudanese tourists. At the same time, it is also an integral part of the nearby modern community of Karima. 

Our team began work at Jebel Barkal in 2018, with a dual emphasis on archaeological research and site conservation and a deliberately collaborative approach that pairs Sudanese and foreign specialists as co-leads in every major project role. In the autumn of 2020, in part because of this collaborative leadership structure, we were fortunate to receive a generous award from the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation to support conservation, site management, and community engagement efforts at the site. The COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions delayed our work, and our first full season of field conservation was held in 2023. One month after its conclusion, Sudan was suddenly and unexpectedly at war as two rival military generals battled for control of the country. Since that time, every aspect of our work has changed and, for Sudanese team members, our homes, jobs, financial security, family life, and daily existence have altered radically in stressful and exhausting ways.   

This talk explores our pre-war plans, how the war has affected the site and our project in both predictable and surprising ways—good and bad, and the hard questions we have asked ourselves as the months of war continue. Our project’s design and structure have helped us continue aspects of our work during the war, and we also reflect on why this has been successful for parts of the project but not for others. 

While aspects of our project are unique and site-specific, the challenges we face are similar to and may offer valuable insights for other conflict-prone communities. Key takeaways include an intersectional understanding of how armed conflict, economic fragility, and climate change are combining to devastating effect for cultural heritage sites around the world; the need for special programming for internally displaced people during armed conflicts; and the need for significant, strategic shifts in conservation capacity-building in conflict-prone countries.