Friday, February 17, 2006

Ancient Nubia in Chicago

"Some of the world’s most significant artifacts from Nubia, an ancient African civilization that had important connections to Egypt, will go on display Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Museum of the Oriental Institute at the University. Many of the artifacts, including one of the world’s oldest saddles, will be on display for the first time as the museum opens the Robert F. Picken Family Nubian Gallery. Photographs taken during University expeditions 100 years ago in Nubia, now Sudan, also will be on display. . . . From 1960 to 1968, teams from the Oriental Institute worked intensively in the Nubian Salvage project, excavating numerous archaeological sites in both Egypt and Sudan in a race against the flooding of this part of the Nile valley, as construction of the Aswan High Dam was about to begin, said Stein. . . . The 650 pieces that will be on display are drawn from the 15,000 artifacts brought back from the salvage operation and represent a broad time period."
The article, with photographs, describes some of the artefacts and explains how they present a view of Nubian life at different periods of time, explaining the relationship with Egypt, but emphasising the Nubian culture's unique development and distinctive facets.
The website for the Museum of the Oriental Institute (Chicago, U.S.) can be found at:

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