Sudanese archaeologists explore history with the end of the “West knows” era | Sudan

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Late in the morning in Khartoum. Inside a low, dusty building in the center of the Sudanese capital, crates of artifacts, a 7-foot-tall replica of a 2,000-year-old stone statue of a Nubian deity lie, and students scurry through the corridors. Outside bustling traffic, blinding sunshine and both branches of the Nile.

Sabreen Gamal, Nadia Musa, Athar Bella and Sabreen El Sadig, all studying archeology at the University of Khartoum, are heading down one ladder. None of them are older than 24 and see themselves as pioneers, breaking new ground on a continent that has long attracted Western expeditions, specialists and adventurers, but archaeologists who have received less attention abroad.

“It is very important for Africans to do African archeology… because then we will have our own archaeological cultures. There is a lot we understand because we are from here. The idea that people from the West know better is changing,” Sadik said.

Gamal, 22, from the remote war-torn state of South Kordofan, said the stereotypes promoted by movies and literature in the West are outdated. “There’s an idea of ​​what an archaeologist looks like…but they shouldn’t have a particular image, color, features or gender,” she said.

Sabreen Gamal: There is an idea of ​​what an archaeologist looks like. Photo: Jason Burke/The Guardian

For decades, the popular image of archaeologists in Africa has been at odds with an increasingly diverse reality. Dr. Ghalia Garlenby, acting director of the Sudan National Museum, said that when she was at the university 30 years ago, there were only three women studying archeology, now there are 20.

“This is a very big and important change. There are more and more young women in Sudan who are interested in knowing their history and they deserve to know it… Twelve years ago we only had foreign missions working here, but that is changing. Now we have many Sudanese missions doing excavations.” in our sites.

Alex Vines, director of the Africa Now program at London’s Chatham House, has been an archaeologist in Zimbabwe and East Africa for more than 30 years.

Archeology was dominated by white western archaeologists and completely transformed. It is now increasingly driven by Indigenous research.

Advocates of greater involvement of African archaeologists on the continent argue that this would help a system that has become “detached from reality”.

“The cost of living, the climate crisis, migration, the reflection of our identity…archaeology can and should talk about all of these things. We need To build something new, something just, richer and more convenient.”

Mire recently helped launch a two-year project in northern Kenya that involved 35 people from local communities studying rock art. “These are the people who have never thought about archeology… They have a lot of knowledge that we don’t have and that just goes to show what people can do when they are not being nurtured or nurtured, but once they are given equipment and knowledge. It’s a way of connecting two worlds,” she said. .

The link between imperial exploitation of the continent and archaeological research was established as early as 1798 when Napoleon invaded Egypt with teams of French specialists who set about understanding the country’s past but also took away vast amounts of artifacts.

Sudan was a British colony for nearly 60 years, then run by a series of autocrats often beholden to outside powers. Few are interested in archeology. In such circumstances, Western support was important in maintaining what little activity continued.

Dr. Ijlal Al-Mulk, Director of Conservation at the National Authority for Antiquities and Museums in Sudan, said she was grateful to foreign archaeologists who “never stopped coming even in the darkest of times. This was a very big help to us. They really helped Sudan preserve and sustain our work, and they helped In capacity building for young archaeologists. We needed professionals. Now we have a lot.”

A handful of Sudanese archaeologists have recently traveled to Europe to work on sites there, reversing a century-old flow in the other direction. “We look forward to the day when African archaeologists will travel regularly to Europe or the United States to do archeology there,” Malik said.

This appeals to Sadiq, 24, who has never left Sudan. “We want to discover more and travel. I want to know more about my history but also all history. Why don’t we come and study your history in the West like you did here?” she said.

Sabreen Elsadig: We want to discover more and travel. Photo: Jason Burke/The Guardian

But the new wave of young archaeologists in Sudan and elsewhere on the continent faces many obstacles. For women in particular, their choice of profession brings resistance from relatives and schools.

For three years I opposed my family. There were all these questions: What do you do with that qualification? Why be an archaeologist if you are a woman? How will you travel alone? Jamal said.

Men also face prejudice and ignorance. Joshua Kompany, 31, who has done pioneering work in South Africa on the prehistoric music industry, said he was often mocked when he told people he was an archaeologist.

“They can’t understand why I chose this profession. They think I’m working in the dirt with old things. Some even accuse me of being a gravedigger. I have to explain that’s not what archaeologists do,” Kompany said. “I think they got it from Indiana Jones and the movies. They do not have complete information.

There is an acute shortage of resources. The Covid pandemic and the current economic crisis have paralyzed governments across the continent. In Khartoum, lessons are being held in a 50-year-old building that experiences constant blackouts in temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. Even in relatively rich countries like South Africa, financing and facilities are often inadequate.

“The big challenge is expansion. There is a lot of Africa’s heritage that has not yet been investigated and is now threatened by development and population growth,” Vines said.

Malik has been at the forefront of a new campaign for the return, wherever practical, of artifacts looted during the colonial period, and sees the development of a group of young colleagues as important to Sudan. “We believe it is time to write our history from the point of view of the Sudanese,” she said.

For Sadik and her colleagues in Khartoum, more is at stake than the task of investigating and discovering past lives, however important that may be. A military coup last year dashed hopes for a quick transition to democracy after the fall of veteran dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Since then, more than 100 people have died in protests against the new regime, which has close ties to several repressive actors. Gulf countries and Russia.

“In order to be a free country, we need our own archaeologists,” Sadiq said.

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