APPELLO - APPEAL
"A rich archaeological area on both banks of the Nile is menaced of inundation by the Merowe dam”.

A new dam in the area of the 4th cataract will put under water all the islands and large territories along the Nile, up to Abu Hamed, sinking prehistoric and historic sites which have never been investigated (Fig. 1).The Sudanese authorities (National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums) invited all the archaeological mission working in the country to contribute to the rescue of sites upstream of the dam. Indeed, it is necessary to organise systematic survey activities and rescue excavations to record archaeological sites and materials in the flooded area (Figs. 2, 3, 4).
Several foreign missions have answered the call and some have started salvage campaigns in the area, like the Sudan Archaeological Research Society from London, the Archaeological Museum of Gdansk (Poland), the French Unit of the National Corporation for Antiquities and


Fig. 01 - Foto satellitare della zona a rischio inondazione.
   
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Museums, the University of California at Santa Barbara (USA). A sector of the area has been assigned to the Italian mission which is actually conducting archaeological excavations in Central Sudan (El Salha Project directed by Donatella Usai on behalf of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient, sponsored by AREA OFFICE and GASID from Turin). To organise a rescue archaeological campaign the first step is to find financial resources to pay air tickets, the logistic and the transportation means on place. The contribution by Italian state institutions is actually hampered by the general tendency to reduce the cultural balance and thus it is not enough to cover expenses of a three

   
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years campaign needed to survey, locate and record the archaeological evidence spread over the concession area (Figs. 5, 6, 7). This area which was exploited since the Palaeolithic, was later the theatre of the Egyptian conquest. Egyptian temples and military architectures (Figs. 8, 9, 10)

   
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Fig. 13
   
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predated the architectonic achievements of the Sudanese kingdom of Kush during the first millennium BC (Figs. 11, 12, 13).
We are appealing to whoever in Italy, individual or institution, would like to support us in our attempt to save an archaeological and cultural heritage otherwise lost forever under the water of the lake, 170 km long and 4 km large, the dam will create.