Victory in Nubia; The UNESCO Courier: a ... - unesdoc - Unesco

December 1964
(17th year)
U.K.: 1/6 stg.
Canada : 30 cents
France: 1 F
VICTORY
IN NUBIA
A window

PORTRAIT
FROM A TOMB
-*
This exclusive photograph reveals
the features of a man who lived
and died in Nubia nearly 4,000 years
ago. A funerary mask it was reco¬
vered1 with other masks from a
necropolis near the ancient fortress
of Mirgissa by the French Archaeo¬
logical Mission in Sudanese Nubia.
The diversity of these masks sug¬
gests that they were actual portraits.
iß André Vila-French Archaeological Mission à
( ajüi !*$ a* iff

Courier DECEMBER 1964
PUBLISHED IN
NINE EDITIONS
English
French
Spanish
Russian
German
Arabic
U.S.A.
Japanese
Italian
Photos © Dr. Georg Gerster, Zurich
Front cover: The colossal statues of
Rameses II on the facade of the
Great Temple of Abu Simbel. See
story page 11.
Back cover: A rich collection of fres¬
coes, painted layer upon layer, has
been found in the Nubian cathedral
of Faras. Here, part of a 9th-century
Madonna has fallen away to reveal
a 7th-century work (heads of a
Nubian prince and an apostle).
Page
5 VICTORY IN NUBIA
by Ali Vrioni
7 NUBIA'S LAST SECRETS
by Christiane Desroches- Noblecourt
9 A TEMPLE MOVED ON RAILS
11 HOW ABU SIMBEL WILL BE SAVED
by Karl Heinz Martini
17 FARAS : GALLERY OF 169 FRESCOES
18 THE ART OF REMOVING A FRESCO
Photo story by Dr. Georg Gerster
27 RETURN TO THE LAND OF KUSH
A first-hand account of diggings in Nubia
by Rex Keating
33 THE SCROLLS OF KASR IBRIM
36 DESERT HIGHWAY BUILT FOR SHIPS
by Jean Vercoutter
38 MOVING A TEMPLE AS BIG AS A CATHEDRAL
The story of Kalabsha
by H. Stock and K. G. Siegler
40 KEY TO A NATION'S FUTURE
The Aswan High Dam
by Taher Abu Wafa
42 STAMPS FOR NUBIA
46 UNESCO COURIER INDEX 1964
THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
Published monthly by UNESCO
Editorial Offices
Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, Paris 7', France
Editor-in-Chief
Sandy Koffler
Assistant Editor
René Caloz
Associate Editors
English Edition : Ronald Fenton
French Edition : Jane Albert Hesse
Spanish Edition : Arturo Despouey
Russian Edition : Victor Goliachkov
German Edition : Hans Rieben (Berne)
Arabic Edition : Abdel Moneim El Sawl (Cairo)
Japanese Edition : Shin-lchi Hasegawa (Tokyo)
Italian Edition : Maria Remiddi (Rome)
Layout & Design
Robert Jacquemin
17TH YEAR
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N' 12, 1964
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irai
Wondrous structures, ranking among
the most magnificent on earth, are in
danger of disappearing...
These monuments do not belong solely
to the nations who hold them in trust. The whole
world has the right to see them endure. It is
therefore with every confidence that I invite
governments, institutions, public or private foun¬
dations and men of goodwill everywhere to contri¬
bute to the success of a task without parallel in
the past.
VITTORINO VERONESE
Director-General of Unesco (1958-1961)
This is not the first time that mankind
has reacted generously to a noble cause.
' But this is the first time that interna¬
tional fellowship has found expression
on so large a scale in matters of culture, and that
governments have committed their States to such
an undertaking. It is also the first time that this
same fellowship has invoked the principle that
certain religious, historical and artistic monuments,
in which mankind has expressed its deepest convict¬
ions and highest aspirations, belong to the whole
human race and are part of its common heritage,
regardless of when they came into existence or the
place where they happen to be.
Culture, an essential element of the intellectual and
moral solidarity of mankind has thus been recog¬
nized by States, for all the world to see, as an
important factor in their co-operation for the pro¬
motion of peace by the spirit to which the members
of Unesco have pledged themselves. That is the
significance of this event which will itself make
history.
RENÉ MAHEU
Director-General of Unesco
U.A.R. Antiquities Service
VICTORY
NUBIA

HE flooding of Nubia began this autumn.
The new High Dam at Aswan, the famous
Sadd el Aali, which is to bring millions of people in the
valley of the Nile a prosperity they have never yet known,
Is nearing completion. The barrier across the great river
was closed in May, 1964. The waters are now slowly
rising behind it, transforming the antique land of Nubia
into a great artificial lake.
Only four and a half years have gone by since Unesco
drew the attention of the world to the cultural heritage of
ancient Nubia, and to its unique assemblage of historic
monuments, art treasures and sites teeming with archaeolo¬
gical riches which because of the needed High Dam were
to be lost to mankind. Since then, the United Arab Repub¬
lic and the Republic of the Sudan, under Unesco's auspices
and with the collaboration of more than fifty other countries,
have laboured carefully, but hurriedly, to save all that could
be saved.
Today, most of the work which had to be done has been
accomplished. Yet, despite the rising waters, certain un¬
completed projects are still being carried out. A tempor¬
ary cofferdam is protecting the Abu Simbel temples from
the rising Nile so that they can be cut out of their rock.
For technical reasons owing to the special character of
the site and its location north of the High Dam at Aswan,
THE KIOSK OF KERTASSI REBUILT ON ITS NEW SITE (SEE PAGE 7)
by Ali Vrioni
Director, Monuments of Nubia Service, Unesco
the salvage of Philae must wait. And archaeologists are
now conducting a gigantic exploration of the upstream
portion of Sudanese Nubia, which will be flooded only a
few years from now, at the final stage of the formation
of the 300-mile long lake.
However, with the closing of the High Dam, the Inter¬
national Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia has
reached a turning-point. It is a good moment to take stock
of what has been achieved.
This has been a campaign unprecedented in the cultural
history of mankind. For the first time the world has seen
organized international action to save monuments and
archaeological wealth which, in law, belong only to the
two countries where they are located. Never before in
history has it been proposed to spend such large sums
for a salvage operation of such monumental proportions.
The United Arab Republic and the Republic of the Sudan
began by trying to save Nubia with their own resources.
The task was by far too great. Both countries recognized
that they were only the custodians of Nubia's ancient
wonders and that the loss of these wonders would be
a loss to all mankind. In the summer of 1959, the U.A.R.
and the Sudan turned to Unesco. 5
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE

VICTORY IN NUBIA (Cont'd)
Victory for cultural co-operation
Unesco viewed the idea of international action in Nubia
as a special challenge. The monuments by themselves
fully justified world intervention but Unesco felt that more
than just Nubia itself was at stake.
The twentieth century has become an age of startling
transformation, and its changes everywhere on the planet
threaten the heritage of the past upon which man's cultural
life depended. For years, Unesco has been promoting
regulations and methods for the protection of works of art,
monuments and sites in all countries. But, in protecting our
common artistic heritage, there must be a worldwide feel¬
ing of responsibility. The time had perhaps come to put
the Idea of international common effort into practice.
Certain misguided fears might be felt that the high
cost of the salvage of Nubia, under Unesco's sponsorship,
would mean curtailing programmes to advance education
of human welfare. Unesco had to show that this was
not true and that cultural and spiritual progress could
not be thought of as competing with basic education and
social and technological progress ; all these activities fit¬
ted Into a common pattern and had to be pursued at the
same time. Failure to maintain the cultural and spiritual
values of mankind would certainly bring on the failure of
efforts for education and material and social development.
The Director-General of Unesco launched his appeal to
the nations on 8 March 1960. Some sceptics scoffed at
NEW MEANING
More than four years have passed since
the Director-General of Unesco launched
his appeal to all nations to help safeguard
the monuments of Nubia. To attain the
goal set by Unesco has been no easy task;
indeed at times it seemed almost hopeless.
Yet those who pursued it never lost faith
even in the most difficult days. Today the
Nubian Campaign has given new, deeper
meaning to the words " international co¬
operation ."
ABDEL MONEIM EL SAWI
Under-Secretary of State
Ministry of Culture
United Arab Republic
the possibility of mobilizing international support of such
magnitude. Everyone agreed, however, that the enterprise
was in harmony with the whole concept of Unesco, one of
whose functions under its Constitution was to assure "the
protection of the world's inheritance of books, works of
art and monuments of history and science."
After four years of struggle against difficulties which
have often seemed insuperable, after many disappoint¬
ments and even threats of failure, the battle of Nubia Is
now won. Countless inestimable works of art and historical
documents and monuments of the first rank are no longer
in danger. Nineteen temples have been saved comple¬
tely dismantled and either already re-erected at their new
sites or in storage awaiting the building operations.
But from the very start, the rescue of the temples of
Abu Simbel has stood as the symbol of the whole cam¬
paign. Their beauty had defied the centuries; they now
challenged the skill and ingenuity of engineers. The
project finally adopted to save them from being submerged
calls for the two temples to be cut into blocks and re
constructed 64 metres (over 100 feet) above the present
site.
The cost of the operation has been estimated at 36 mil¬
lion dollars. International contributions for Abu Simbel total
over 17 million dollars. Of this sum the United States alone
has contributed $12 million; France $1 million; Italy $856,000
and Sweden $500,000. In all, 51 responses have come to
the Unesco appeal, some with what may seem modest
sums but which in view of the size of their national budget,
constitute significant contributions (1). Unesco had set as
its goal the sum of $20,500,000 so that only three million
dollars is now needed from donor sources to close the
small gap.
By November 16, 1963, the Government of the United
Arab Republic which has pledged to meet the difference
between the funds raised through international aid and the
cost of the project, was in a position to sign an accord
with an international group of firms for the rescue ope¬
ration at Abu Simbel to begin without delay.
Monuments however are only one aspect of the Nubian
campaign. As urgent, or perhaps more so, was the need
to explore the area archaeologically before it was flooded.
For the past five years Unesco has co-ordinated an unpre¬
cedented campaign of exploration, carried out by archaeo¬
logical expeditions from virtually every part of the world.
The results have exceeded all expectations. Important pre¬
historic sites have been discovered and excavations
between the first and third cataracts have helped to provide
missing links in the prehistory of Central Africa and that
of Egypt. At least three new culture groups have been
identified. A new chapter in history may well be forthcoming
when all the finds made in Nubia are ultimately deciphered,
classified and analyzed. With a few insignificant exceptions
the whole lower area of Nubia 400 kilomètres of the Nile
valley has been explored and recorded archaeologically
and in the upper stretches of Sudanese Nubia the work
is in full swing. Never in the history of archaeology has
so vast a programme of exploration and excavation been
carried out in such a short period of time.
The monuments of Nubia, which were insufficiently
known before Nubia was flooded, will now be visited by
millions of people. In their new sites, they will certainly
become great centres of attraction, focal points for the
cultural interest of the world.
A principle has been established, put into practice,
tested in the fire of action: the principle that cultural wealth,
wherever it may be found, belongs to and enriches all
mankind, and that all mankind should therefore participate
in its preservation.
(1) International financial contributions for the preservation
ofAbu Simbelpaid into Unesco Trust Fund (in U.S. dollars) :
Afghanistan: $2.000; Algeria: $105,000; Saudi Arabia:
$40.000¡Austria: $25,000; Belgium: $16,975; Bolivia: $7.000;
Brazil: $12,850; Cambodia: $5,000; Cameroon: $26.000;
China: $2,000; Cyprus: $2.800; Cuba: $160,000; Denmark:
$15.000; Ecuador: $1.000; Spain: $270,000; U.S.A.:
$12,000,000; France: $1,000,000; Ghana: $46,000; Greece:
$30,000; India: $588.000; Indonesia: $10.000; Iraq: $60,000;
Italy: $856,000; Japan: $20.000; Kuwait: $50.000; Lebanon:
$33.330; Libya: $26.000; Luxemburg: $40.000; Malaysia:
$10.000; Mall: $2.040; Morocco: $86.000: Monaco: $10.200;
Nepal: $1,000; Nigeria: $53.200; Uganda: $5,600; Pakistan:
$130.000; The Netherlands: $435.600: Philippines: $10.000;
Qatar: $55,000; Rumania: $5.000; U.K.: $213.000; Vatican:
$10.000; Sierra Leone: $2,800; Sweden: $500.000;
Switzerland: $230.000; Togo: $815; Tunisia: $12.000;
Turkey: $3.000; Uruguay: $10.000; Yugoslavia: $226.000;
Order of Malta: $1.000; (See also p. 45).

Unesco-Rex Keating OASES FOR SUCCOURED TEMPLES. Four special sites have been set aside by the U.A.R. to receive the temples
of Egyptian Nubia which have been or are to be dismantled to save them from the waters of the Nile. The first of
these oases has been set near Aswan for the temples of Kalabsha, Kertassi and Beit-el-Wali. The second, located
near Wadi es Sebua will receive the temple of Wadi es Sebua itself and that of Dakka. Near the ancient site of Amada
will be the third with Amada temple and the tomb of Pennut. Above the hill of Abu Simbel a fourth oasis will group
the two temples of Rameses and Nefetari and nearby the rock-hewn chapel of Jebel Shams and the rock temple of
Abu Oda. The Sudan is creating an "oasis" In a special arranged park in the Khartoum museum for the temples of
Aksha, Buhen, Semna West, Semna East (Kumma). Photo shows thousands of blocks of stone from dismantled
temples temporarily stored on the Island of Elephantine, near Aswan awaiting to be transferred to their new site.
NUBIA'S SANDS REVEAL
THEIR LAST SECRETS
I
by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt
T has been a momentous experience to be able
I to follow the progress of the Nubian campaign
since 1960. The archaeological discoveries alone, I feel,
have more than justifield the enormous efforts made by so
many nations.
Interestingly enough, some of the most remarkable finds
have occurred on what at first appeared to be unpromising
sites. When the full history of the International Campaign
comes to be written as I hope it will be one day it will
reveal to us the amazingly broad sweep of events that have
been encompassed in this, vast, breath-taking enterprise
of international co-operation and international generosity.
This history will certainly show that the sums of money
spent in Nubia were minuscule indeed when compared with
the fantastic results achieved. In terms of scientific results
alone the rewards have been of the highest importance.
To the layman, perhaps, scientific results may not always
seem spectacular or correspond to the fabulous treasures
often associated with the world of the Pharaohs of ancient
Egypt. Nevertheless, a simple potsherd or a gazelle skin
covered with inscriptions in "Old Nubian", a row of
mudbrick walls or the graffiti scratched on stones by
pilgrims lost in the desert are the stuff from which many
a new page of history has been written. Soon a whole
new panorama of Nubia in prehistoric times will unfold
before us as is already evident from the palaeolithic remains
discovered on the plateaux above the Nile and the Neolithic
drawings preserved on the rocks.
Until the recent excavation of Buhen who would have
dared to imagine that a flourishing town of metal workers
existed 3,000 years before our era near the Second Cata¬
ract where Upper and Lower Nubia met. Magnificent
examples of Nubian military architecture of the classical
Middle Kingdom (second millenium B.C.) were of course
known, but before the Unesco campaign began most of
Mirgissa had not yet been unearthed and the great fortress
of Buhen itself was buried in sand until three years ago.
Nor did anyone suspect that the Nubians of the Middle
Kingdom period vied with the garrisons from Egypt in the
construction of fortifications. With the exception of the
magic caches of "execration texts" bearing the names of
tribes regarded as enemies, placed in the foundations, the
Nubian fortified village is revealed as the counterpart and
opposite number of the Egyptian fortress. The use of
rounded bastions and zig-zagged gateways shows that
Nubian military architecture existed far earlier than had
once been believed.
From the New Kingdom period of Nubia a number of
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE

NUBIA'S LAST SECRETS (Cont'd)
cemeteries have been found whose funerary furnishings
reveal hitherto unknown aspects of the civilization of that
time. But the sands of Nubia held a more sensational
surprise in store for the Egyptologist. On numerous occa¬
sions archaeologists had found references almost every¬
where in the region to a temple of Horus at Baki (Kuban)
which was apparently one of the most important temples
of Egypt from the 15th century B.C. onwards. And yet
in the area where it should have existed on the west bank
of the Nile the only remaining temple was the sanctuary
of Dakka, dedicated to the god Toth by Nubian monarchs
of the Roman Ptolemaic era.
And then, in the summer of 1963 when the dromos, or
sacred avenue of sphinxes of Dakka was being dismantled
by the Antiquities Service of the United Arab Republic the
whole missing temple suddenly emerged from the sand, its
reliefs glittering with traces of the original colour. The
temple had lain hidden for over two thousand years
beneath the stones of Dakka itself! It had been dedicated
by the great Pharaoh Thutmosis III to the falcon deity Horus
to watch over the route leading to the gold mines in the
area. Thus on the eve of being engulfed forever Nubia has
again given up a hitherto unknown monument to posterity.
One piece of good luck always leads to another, the
saying goes. Indeed no sooner had the temple of Horus
been found than word was received that diggings in the
area of a little rock-hewn chapel just south of Wadi es
Sebua had uncovered a temple of almost gigantic propor¬
tions built during the reign of Amenophis III. In the archi¬
tecture of this edifice archaeologists quickly recognized
the prototype of various structural forms later adopted in
the famous temples of Abu Simbel. More discoveries were
yet to come.
From beneath an altar that had escaped destruction
during the period of Akhenaton and the Tell-el-Amarna
heresy, archaeologists recovered an object placed there
when the temple was founded, and which provides the key
to the entire theological system of this sanctuary. The
object was a representation of the egg of creation, the
two original halves of which, so the sacred texts of Egypt
recount, were deposited on the hill of Hermopolis, tradi¬
tionally associated with the creation.
S
EVERAL days later another find of the first
'magnitude was made at Wadi es Sebua, that is,
the recovery intact of the Coptic vase used in the conse¬
cration ceremonies which transformed this great temple into
a Christian church. Since that time, the vase had remained
hidden in the ground before the Christian altar.
This brings us to one of the most rewarding phases of
the entire Nubia campaign the astonishing enrichment of
our knowledge concerning medieval Nubia. It was long
believed that previous explorations had completely
exhausted the subject and that nothing new remained to
be learned. For forty years, in fact, no one had considered
it worthwhile to undertake any new investigations in this
field. Yet from the day in 1959 when the foundation stone of
the citadel of Ikhmindi was found to the latest unearthing of
the city of churches at Tamit in September 1964, is one
continuous story of exalted discovery: Faras and its
majestic frescoes, the church of Abdallah Nirgi and its
decorations, the cathedral of Kasr Ibrim and the extra¬
ordinary "testament" of Bishop Timotheos the Nubian, on
his scrolls in Coptic and Arabic.
These are just a few examples from the dozens and
dozens of discoveries that have come out of Nubia, some
g of which are described elsewhere in this issue, and every
one of which is an important contribution to science.
A whole chapter could be written on the anthropology
on the heel of discovery
of Nubia and its people, and especially the aspect that
touches closes on archaeology, namely, the houses of
Nubia. For the first time, the remains of ancient Nubian
houses were examined by archaelogists with specialized
knowledge of architecture. On site after site they were
amazed to find how closely the Nubian dwellings resembled
the type of house built in the time of the Pharoahs.
And so the history of Nubia can at last be written. Most
of the credit must go to the archaeologists who have
worked to save its monuments. Had it not been for these
operations the discoveries I have just described would
probably .never have been made. Never before have the
resources of archaeology been applied with such thorough¬
ness and care in seeking the relics of an ancient land.
N
EVER in the entire history of archaeology has
I there ever been such close co-operation be¬
tween different sites and missions in the field. With the
launching of the Nubian campaign a bridge was laid between
working and research methods of a strictly archaeological
kind, whose limitations have now made them outdated, and
modern techniques which have come to the help of research
and conservation.
One of these is photogrammetry, which has now come
to be considered as one of the standard techniques used
on archaeological sites. Yet not many people realize that
the first example of its systematic use occurred in the
Nubian campaign when it was used not only in its simplest
form, for taking stereoscopic photographs but in the more
complicated processes for contour plotting and the recon¬
stitution of three-dimensional models. Thus one can say
that here too the Unesco appeal has played a vital role
and enabled archaeology to move ahead into a new phase
of progress.
Many countries have responded to Unesco's appeal
and by their efforts and good will have carried the results
well beyond the primary objective of saving Nubia's
temples. Along with the plan to regroup the reconstructed
temples in three special "oasis" zones or to establish them
in surroundings recalling their original sites it is proposed
to create communities and farmlands nearby.
Who would have dared to believe when the Nubian
Appeal was first launched that such a plan could be applied
coherently over an entire country? Until then it had merely
been proposed that certain monuments or at most a famous
site be protected. We have come a long way indeed in
four years.
No less unique is the fact that some fifty nations have
joined forces, not for reasons of aggression or defence,
but to help safeguard an entire cultural heritage in danger
of being engulfed forever. All that human effort could
save has been preserved, and with it a spiritual message
to be handed down to future generations. These nations
have revived hope in the Nubia of tomorrow as it becomes
a symbol for Egypt, like the star Sothis, as a harbinger
of the life-giving floods of the Nile.
If one wished to summarize the Nubian campaign in a
sentence, there could be none more appropriate than the
words of the Director-General of Unesco when he said,
"Faith in an ideal can move mountains."
CHRISTIANE DESROCHES-NOBLECOURT is Curator of the
Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Louvre Museum, Paris, and
Unesco Consultant to the Documentation Centre on Ancient Egypt
in Cairo. She has carried out many archaeological excavations in
Upper Egypt and has written numerous works on Egyptology. One
of these. " Life and Death of a Pharoah : Tutankhamen ". is being
published in ten countries: U.K. ed.. Rainbird Ltd., London; U.S.
ed.. New York Graphic Society, New York.

AMADA
A whole temple
moved on rails
On the left bank of the Nile, about 200 kilometres south of
Aswan, a notable feat of engineering has been taking place.
Here, the jewel-temple of Amada, built over 3,000 years ago
during the New Empire was being transported to its now
oasis site as a single unit over a distance of 2.600 metres
(1.6 miles) and raised to a height of 65 metres (215 feet)
to set two world records for horizontal and vertical displace¬
ment. The seven halls of the temple are decorated with rich
inscriptions and paintings of delicate beauty. It was considered
impossible to dismantle the building stone by stone. Tho
method adopted is the one employed for moving various
types of buildings on rails even over unstable terrain. Vehicles
carrying hydraulic jacks (above) maintain constant support
while compensating for variations in the grade of the railbed.
The moving force comes from special double-action jacks
which are anchored on the rails after each inch by inch ope¬
ration. These are activated by two high pressure hydraulic
pumps. Drawings below show, from left to right, concrete
supports placed under the temple; the building will be sta¬
bilized to prevent any movement of blocks, and finally removed
on vehicles set on three sets of tracks to compensate for Tiding
and descending slopes and curves. The operations are being
carried out by French engineers at a cost of $237,000 after
United Arab Republic dismantling of the front of the sanctuary.
Drawings by Sainraot and Brice

10
CALENDAR OF
MONUMENTAL
OPERATIONS
1960:
1962
Temple of Debod, north chapel of Taffeh,
kiosk of Kertassi : dismantled by the Anti¬
quities Service of the United Arab Republic.
Temples of Dendur, of Dakka and of Maharraqah
: dismantled by U.A.R. Antiquities
Service.
1962-63:
1963:
1964:
Temple of Kalabsha: dismantled, transferred
and re-erected by the government of the
Federal Republic of Germany at its own
expense.
Kiosk of Kertassi: re-erected by the U.A.R.
Antiquities Service. Temple of Aksha : sculp¬
tured blocks removed and transported to the
new museum at Khartoum in Sudan thanks
to the financial contribution from France.
Tomb of Djehuty-Hotep at Debeira East:
painted scenes in the first chamber were cut
out and taken to the new museum at Khar¬
toum, by the Sudanese Antiquities Service.
Temple of Buhen: dismantled and transported
to the new museum at Khartoum through
financial contributions by the U.K. and the
U.S.A.
Temple of Derr: dismantled and cut out of
the rock by the U.A.R. Antiquities Service.
Temple of Wadi-es-Sebua : cut out and
dismantled thanks to a U.S. financial contri¬
bution, supplemented by one from the U.A.R.
Temple of Beit el Wali : cut out of the rock
(U.S. contribution).
Tomb of Pennut at Aniba : removed from the
rock (U.S. contribution).
Temple of Amada: front portion dismantled
by the U.A.R. Antiquities Service; remaining
portion now being transported in its entirety
by rails for re-erection on a higher location
(French contribution).
Temple of Gerf-Hussein: certain elements
and sculptures cut out of the rock by the
U.A.R. Antiquities Service.
Temple of Jebel Shams : stele to be cut out
this year by the U.A.R. Antiquities Service.
Abu Simbel: protective works being raised
prior to removal of temples.
Temple of Kumma at Semna East: dismantled
and transported to Khartoum museum (Nether¬
lands contribution).
Temple of Semna West: dismantled and
taken to Khartoum museum (Belgian contri¬
bution).
m
ELLESY
ABU SIMBEL (
A
MAHARRAQAH
WADI ES SEBUA
KASR IBRIM
^£BU ODA
foUSTUL *
FARAS \* JEBEL SH*MS
*< ^ \ y

HOW ABU SIMBEL
WILL BE SAVED
These giant metal
piles driven into
the ground before
the Great Temple
of Abu Simbel
form the core of a
cofferdam of rocks
and earth that will
shut off the temple
from the rising
waters of the Nile
while rescue ope¬
rations proceed.
© Jean Sonnier
T HE salvage of the Abu Simbel temples is now
fully under way.
Yet a year and a half ago, the prospects for their pre¬
servation had become very uncertain. The famous lifting
project conceived by the Italian firm Italconsult (see
The Unesco Courier, October 1961) had to be abandoned
because of the high cost of the operation. The United
Arab Republic and Unesco searched for a less expensive
method. Different proposals were made, among them
an extremely interesting scheme devised by the French
engineer, Professor Albert Caquot, for floating the two
temples up on giant pontoons.
The Government of the U.A.R. finally decided in favour
of a salvage project to cut the temples into blocks conceived
by the Swedish engineering firm Vattenbyggnadsbyran of
Stockholm. The execution of this operation has been
entrusted to the International Joint Venture under the
leadership of Hochtief AG, the company which had already
effected the dismantling, transfer and re-erection of the
temple of Kalabsha under the sponsorship of the Federal
Republic of Germany.
The Joint Venture includes the following firms : Hochtief
AG, Essen (Federal Republic of Germany), Atlas Company,
Cairo (U.A.R.), Grands Travaux de Marseille, Paris (France),
Impregilo, Milan (Italy), Skanska, Stockholm (Sweden),
and Sentab, Stockholm (Sweden).
by
Karl Heinz Martini
Agreements for the execution of the project and for
international participation therein were concluded between
the donor states and Unesco and between Unesco and
the U.A.R.; the government of the U.A.R. signed the
contract with the Joint Venture on November 16, 1963,
and the work began immediately. The project Is to cost
between $32,000,000 and $36,000,000.
Since it had proved impossible to envisage transporting
each temple as a single whole, the principle now applied
involved dismantling and cutting the monuments into blocks
of no more than 30 tons in weight, transporting these
blocks to a position in the neighbourhood of the original
site but higher up, and reassembling them on that location.
This very difficult operation is being carried out in
three stages : first, the hills containing the temples must
be excavated so as to expose the buildings' themselves.
Secondly, each monument must be cut out ; the blocks
must be transported with every possible precaution to
prevent damage and temporarily stored until all have been
removed. Thirdly, the temples are to be re-erected at the
new site with the same orientation as before, and their
surroundings must be reconstituted so as to give them,
as far as possible, the appearance they had originally.
The ground level of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel is
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE
11

ABU SIMBEL
(Cont'd)
IE
SALVAGE
OPERATION
an artist's
view
An artist's conception
of the salvage opera¬
tions now under way
at Abu Simbel. Façades
of the temples will be
protected and reinforced
by giant sloping sandfills
made of compacted
dune sand (here shown
as transparent, covering
only half of façade).
Plans then call for the
careful excavation of
the mountain rock above
and behind the temples
to enable dismantling of
roofs and walls of the
temple rooms. Exca¬
vations will be carried
out without use of ex¬
plosives to avoid harm¬
ful vibrations. Giant
tube will provide ac¬
cess to interior. Cof¬
ferdam is shown in
foreground with road¬
ways up to new site.
Drawing by
Gunter Radtke-Hochtief
122 metres above sea level (a metre is just under a
yard) and that of Queen Nefertari's Small Temple is only
120 metres. This means that the water level of the new
High Dam reservoir which began to fill up this year would
flood the temples before they could be removed if no
exceptional measures were taken to protect them tem¬
porarily.
In order to shut the temples off from the rising water
a special cofferdam has been designed and top priority
given to its construction. The cofferdam is about 360
metres long starting from a point south of the Great
Temple and rejoining the cliff to the north of the Small
Temple. When completed, it will be about 25 metres high
above river bed and the crest will be 135 metres above
sea level. It is formed of a line of steel sheet piling,
24 metres in height, penetrating into the river bed down
to the bedrock, with above that, a concrete lintel, one
metre high, and on the top another line of steel sheeting,
12 13 metres in height. On either side of this barrier rockfill
material is being accumulated.
The building of the cofferdam took on a particularly
dramatic character in the autumn of 1964 because the
season of the flood water level of the Nile proved to
be exceptionnally long. It was necessary to complete the
cofferdam above the level originally scheduled, and the
crews of the Joint Venture found themselves working
both day and night in order to reach the needed height
in time. Meanwhile, several pumping stations have been
installed to serve as a de-watering system for the area
between the temples and the cofferdam as the water
level of the Nile rises. The water is to be directly dis¬
charged into a drainage pipeline.
All work on the cofferdam will have been completed
before summer 1965. The reservoir level will rise above
the cofferdam in January 1967, but the monuments will
have been removed long before then.
The hill above each of the temples (rising 30 metres
above the top of the Great Temple and 40 metres above
that of the Small Temple) is to be excavated to within
80 centimetres (2 1/2 feet) of their ceilings and around
the sides of both monuments. This means removing
150,000 cubic metres of rock (approximately 300,000 tons).

The excavation will be carried out by means of rippers,
pneumatic hammers, compressed-air drills, and rock
chisels. A chute at either side of each temple will bring
down the excavated material, which is being used to help
fill the cofferdam, No explosives can be used in this
operation; they might damage ceilings, walls and
statuary, which already show cracks and fissures in
certain places.
At the same time, scaffolding is being put up in all
the rooms of both temples in order to support the
ceilings and the sides when they are separated from
the surrounding rock. Forty per cent of the scaffolding,
of which a total of 150 tons will be necessary, was already
installed in September 1964. A huge tube is to be installed
to give passage to the entrance of each temple while
sand is filled above the façades to protect them.
Some of the sandstone at Abu Simbel is extremely
fragile, and it will be strengthened by the injection of
chemical agents. A specialized firm is now testing the
different synthetic resin products to be used for this
purpose. Not only must some of the blocks be streng¬
thened as a whole the sandstone sometimes shows so
little cohesion that the blocks would break apart when
cut or lifted but the edges of inscribed surfaces must
be specially treated along the cuts to safeguard against
corners breaking off during cutting. The stone hooks
for the lifting of the blocks will be sunk into the blocks
with a synthetic resin compound.
In parts of the hill outside the immediate temple area,
tests are being performed to ascertain the exact results
of each different type of cutting equipment : wire saws,
disc saws, chain saws and several types of hand saws.
Only after all the tests are completed will the actual
cutting and lifting of the blocks themselves be undertaken.
At this stage cutting will be executed under the constant
surveillance of archaeologists. Every precaution is being
taken to prevent aesthetic damage being done to the monu¬
ments.
For each temple, two guy rope derricks capable of
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE
13

14
ABU SIMBEL (Cont'd)
lifting 20 to 30 tons will remove the blocks as they
are cut out on platform lorries of a special type which
will transport them to the storage area behind the old
site and near the new position to be occupied by the
temples.
The blocks to be removed in both temples total
15,000 tons (11,500 tons for the Great Temple and 3,500
tons for the Small Temple). In view of the need to
preserve some of the surroundings of the monuments,
several thousand more elements of smaller dimensions
will also be taken away. The blocks will be stored with
individual protective coverings and numbering to
determine their exact positions in the edifices, until the
transfer is completed. Special handling will of course
be required for the bas-reliefs and statues.
The temples will be re-erected in a position about 64
metres higher and 180 metres farther inland from the
river as compared with the present site. The re-erection
operations will be similar to the dismantling, only in
reverse order. At first, the blocks will be assembled
upon an internal scaffolding, individual blocks being
anchored to or suspended from a reinforced concrete
supporting structure on the top of which concrete domes
will be constructed to carry the overlying rock. The
façades of the temples will put up at the same time as
the reinforced concrete domes.
Afterwards, the surrounding area will be landscaped
and treated so as to recreate the original appearance.
The orientation of the temples will be the same as before.
The whole operation is scheduled to be completed in
six years from start to finish.
The organization of the work yards at Abu Simbel
is almost as arduous a matter as the salvage operation
itself. In the first place the project is being carried
out in a very remote area. Abu Simbel is 280 km (175
miles) from Aswan and 1,500 km (nearly 1,000 miles)
from Alexandria. Equipment which must be imported
from foreign countries takes a considerable amount of
time to reach the site. For instance, from Hamburg to
Abu Simbel a minimum of eight weeks must be expected.
Moreover, the Nile is now closed by the Aswan High Dam
and equipment transported by river must at this point be
taken overland.
However, the work of the Joint Venture is now
facilitated by special means of transport. There are
thirteen boats operating for the Joint Venture of which
six units have been hired from the U.A.R. Government.
Furthermore, two small airplanes, each with three
passenger seats, are transporting urgently required
material staff. The government has also allowed the Joint
Venture to set up a wireless communication system on
normal frequency between Abu Simbel and Aswan.
At present, some forty foreign and ten Egyptian
technicians and 750 local labourers are working at the
site. At the peak point in the operation it is expected
that there will be at least 50 foreign and 40 Egyptian
technicians and about 800 labourers.
Climatic conditions are naturally very severe, for
everyone, but are particularly difficult for staff of European
origin. However, special housing is now being provided
for labourers and staff. A nearby river port and an airfield
ensure communications.
European staff are generally sent out to Abu Simbel
for two-year periods. As soon as the villages are
completely ready, wives and children of staff will join
them. The problem of schooling will be a somewhat
difficult one, the children being from several different
countries ; and indeed Abu Simbel has become a veritable
Babel of languages where Arabic, German, Swedish,
Italian, French, English and Spanish are to be heard.
The men who are working on the Abu Simbel project,
most of whom knew nothing about the temples, their
history or their cultural value before coming here, are
all vitally interested in making this difficult project
succeed, and they have become fascinated with the
history and art of the cultural treasures that they are
helping to preserve. When on the new site of the Great
Temple, the first rays of the sun penetrate into the inner
sanctuary exactly as before, modern technology will have
achieved a result rivalling that of the ancient Egyptians
themselves of which not only those who have directly
worked to make such a gigantic achievement possible
but the world as a whole can be justly proud,
K. H. MARTINI is a member of HochtiefA. G. of Essen (Fed. Rep. of
Germany), the firm directing the demanding operations at Abu Simbel.

National Institute of Geography. Paris This is the first time that the bas-reliefs in the hall of Osirian Pillars at Abu Simbel have been photographed
together as a single scene in its full sweep. The ¡mages occupy the southern wall of the hall of the Great
Temple of Rameses II and recount his many exploits. The photo was made from a series of individual pictu¬
res by the French National Institute of Geography, using special photographic and topometric techniques.
Drawing by Vattenbyggnadsbyran
Stockholm
Cross section of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel showing where the moun¬
tain of rock will be cut away. Diagonal lines indicate that facade and interior
ceilings will be 80 centimetres (2 y2 ft.) thick. Outlined in black is concrete
reinforced backing which will be introduced after the temple is reconstruc¬
ted at its new site. Reinforced concrete domes will be built above each temple.
Some of the sandstone of Abu
Simbel is extremely friable. On the
hillside near the temple tests are
made (left) with different kinds of
cutting equipment including special
hand saws. Right, a bas-relief is
cut from the façade of the Great
Temple. Where the stone is
exceptionally fragile it will be
reinforced with injections of syn¬
thetic resin. This is especially
important when the stone bears
ancient inscriptions that may be
damaged during cutting operation.
Vattenbyggnadsbyran. Stockholm Hochtief

Improgilo
&*&*?
Hochtief
Above, standing out In the
foreground of this aerial
view of the left bank of
the Nile is the hillside from
which the temples of Ram¬
eses II and Queen Nefer-
tari were hewn over 3,000
years ago. In front of the
Great Temple work pro¬
ceeds on a cofferdam which
is to run 360 metres
(1,200 feet) to a point
north of the smaller tem¬
ple. When completed in
1965 the dam will rise
25 metres (80 feet) above
the river bed. Pumping
stations have been in¬
stalled to deal with any
infiltration from the Nile.
Left, temple façade is half
hidden behind generators
producing electricity for the
pumps and machines now
in action at Abu Simbel.
The total power developed
by all the equipment being
used on the site is about
15,000 H.P. requiring 5,000
litres of diesel oil daily.

FARAS incomparable gallery
ONE of the most resounding
victories of the International
Campaign to Safeguard the Monuments
of Nubia has been won at .Faras in
the Republic of the Sudan. ~,:ln the
ancient cathedral of Faras, buried for
centuries beneath the sands, the
Polish Archaeological Mission led by
Professor K. Michalowski has brought
to light an incomparable collection of
frescoes and has saved them in record
time from the waters rising behind
the Aswan High Dam.
Altogether 169 paintings were
uncovered, Including such spectacular
works as a fresco of the Nativity
measuring seven metres by four. No
one had suspected that Faras hid
such an Important cache of artistic
treasures. ^
In February 1963, Louis Christophe,
Unesco Co-ordinator of Archaeolo¬
gical Missions in Egyptian Nubia,
reported to the Unesco Service for
the Monuments of Nubia, in Paris:
"I have received a. report that the
Polish mission uncovered 123 Christian
frescoes and this number is expected
to rise to 150. Querying this astonish¬
ing news I was told that the removal
of a fresco revealed a still more
ancient painting beneath. In most
cases two or three frescoes are
painted one above the other."
Some frescoes were painted by the
alfresco method (painting on plaster
that is still humid); though most were
done on dry plaster. The majority are
magnificently preserved and the vivid
and delicate colours seem as fresh
as the day they were applied. The
subjects include scenes from the Old
and New Testaments, the Nativity, the
Crucifixion and the Three Young Men
In the Fiery Furnace. There are
paintings of the Virgin, St. Michael
and the Apostles, and a series of
portraits of the bishops who were
successively enthroned at Faras.
"We discovered a complete basilica
at Faras", says Professor Michalow¬
ski. "Engulfed by the sands, it had
been abandoned in the 12th century
when northern Nubia came completely
under Moslem rule. It is built of stone
and fired brick in contrast to most
other buildings of the period, including
of 169 frescoes
the many churches scattered along the
Nile, whose mudbrick construction has
suffered from weather and calamities.
Its stones were taken from the ruins
of temples raised by Thutmosis III and
Rameses II. This basilica dates from
the 7th century. Its five naves are a
rare find in Nubia where most churches
have only three. It is dedicated to the
Virgin and Saint Michael.
"During 1962 and 1963 we gradually
cleared the building, and just recently
we brought to light a collection of
frescoes that will become a landmark
in the history of Byzantine art. In fact
no future history of Byzantine art will
be complete unless it includes an
account of the paintings at Faras."
The Polish mission began to live an
astonishing adventure as it literally
peeled away the walls of the basilica
strip by strip; previously there had
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE
a
©
In its November, 1962 issue The Unesco
Courier published tho striking photograph
above showing a fresco as it began to
emerge from the sands burying the cathedral
at Faras in Sudanese Nubia. Below, com¬
pletely uncovered, the fresco shows tho
Archangel Michael protecting the three
young men from the flames of the furnace.

FARAS (Cont'd)
been nothing about these walls to
suggest that Nubian painters had
covered them over and over again
with religious images, although the site
of Faras itself had, of course, been
considered as a potentially rich field
for archaeological remains.
Under the Pharoahs of the Middle
Kingdom Faras was an important
fortress; later it became the site of
a New Kingdom temple and of
buildings raised during the Meroitlc
period. Later still It was the capital
of the Kingdom of Nobetea which
covered the north of Nubia.
During this period Faras was the
monastic and cultural centre of
Christian Nubia (where religion took
root and developed under the direct
influence of Byzantium). According to
evidence uncovered by recent exca¬
vations, the administrative centre of
the kingdom was probably at Kasr
Ibrim (see page 33). The amazing finds
at Faras all date from this period of
Christian cultural expansion in Nubia.
"Engraved in a niche on one side
of the basilica", reported Professor
Michalowski, " we found the names of
27 bishops. Since then we have
uncovered their portraits. These are
remarkably true to life. The age, racial
origin and other characteristics of each
person are clearly shown. Most of
these bishops, by the way, were of
African origin. Finally we discovered
their skeletons burled In the cemetery
nearby. These were examined by
Professor Rogalski, an anthropologist
from Warsaw University, who con¬
firmed the perfect similarity between
the facial structures in the portraits
and the skulls."
NIOW came the task of saving
the paintings. To remove
them from the ancient walls demanded
infinite skill and patience. In an ope¬
ration of this kind even a slight
mistake may do irreparable damage to
a masterpiece. And risks increase
when frescoes are like those at Faras,
most of them painted on a dry plaster
background 1,200 years old and thus
extremely brittle.
First the frescoes were cleaned and
then sprayed with a protective
coating. Afterwards a sheet of tissue
paper was applied followed by layers
of muslin impregnated with hot
beeswax. When this had dried the
plaster was cut away from the wall.
It sounds simple enough; in reality it
is delicate and arduous work (see
photos).
In the conditions
even more difficult
at Faras it was
than usual. The
team of specialists worked in over¬
powering heat and, as the scale of
the operation increased beyond all
expectation, in an indescribable

On these pages we present an
extraordinary series of photographs
taken by the Swiss photographer,
Georg Gerster, which show step
by step how the frescoes discov¬
ered at Faras were freed from
the sand, removed from the walls
and prepared for transport and
later restoration. Left, workers
cart off last basketfuls of sand
from the chapel revealing one of
the most magnificent of the Faras
frescoes The Nativity. It measures
7x4 m (below, left). How the
frescoes were got off the walls is
little short of miraculous. Right
first the fresco is cleaned and
sprayed with a protective coating,
and tissue paper is applied to the
surface, impregnated with hot
beeswax. Far right, phase two :
veil of muslin is spread over the
tissue paper and again hot bees¬
wax is ironed on to it. As the wax is
applied the motifs of the painting
appear. The size and condition
of the fresco determines how
many layers of muslin are applied.
A FRESCO IS REMOVED
a story in pictures by G. Gerster
Photos © Dr Georg Gerster, Zurich
When the fresco is thoroughly dry and stiff it is gently pried away
from the wall with various instruments. This is an operation demand¬
ing infinite patience and skill especially when separating one layer
of paintings from another. As many as three layers of paintings
have been found on some walls. Professor Michalowski leader of
Polish Archaeological Mission in Nubia (on right) supervises work.

20
FARAS (Cont'd)
A FRESCO IS REMOVED (Cont'd)
another. To win the race against
the waters of the Nile, Professor
Michalowski was finally obliged to
mobilize the services of every available
specialist he could find In Poland.
In May 1964, fifty-seven cases filled
with frescoes left Faras by boat for
Wadi Haifa, a Sudanese town that has
already been partly evacuated by its
people. From here twenty-five cases
were sent on to Khartoum, capital of
the Republic of the Sudan, with
frescoes that will eventually be placed
in the city's new museum.
Other cases, carrying 52 frescoes
which the Government of the Sudan
has presented to Poland, were taken
to Port Sudan and embarked on a
Polish freighter.
In Khartoum conservation work
is being supervised by Josef Gazy, a
Polish specialist who was responsible
for their removal from the church at
Faras. Similar operations have already
begun in the workshops of the
Warsaw Museum.
The frescoes will be given minute
examination on both sides and every
detail of their condition, even down
to the traces left by termites and
burrowing wasps, will be recorded..
Specialists will go over them, studying
irregularities and blemishes, the under¬
lays of paint and any incrustations that
could cause damage or discoloration.
Other studies may throw light on
several mysteries. For example, how
did artists of the 7th century A.D.
prepare paints whose brilliance re¬
mains undimmed after so many centu¬
ries? We may know the answer after
samples of these paints have been
analyzed by the laboratory at the War¬
saw Museum.
But shall we ever know the names
of the artists of Faras? The discoveries
there have shown that the Christian
art of Nubia, unlike the Egyptian Coptic
art, had origins closely linked with
the art of Byzantium. The painters
of Nubia indeed drew inspiration from
this source but it is their own origina¬
lity, sense of the picturesque and a
kind of naivete that has earned a unique
place in Christian art for the works
they painted in Faras.

Photos © Dr. Georg Gerster, Zurich Above, from left to right, fresco is completely detached from wall. All superfluous mud is
carefully scraped from the back and the painting is then attached to a prepared wooden
framework. The fresco is then pulled on to a wooden packing frame for its final journey.
Below, twenty arms lift the Nativity across the sands as it leaves the ruins of Faras en
route for Khartoum. Of the 169 frescoes unearthed at Faras, Poland has been granted 52.

22
IRONING OUT FRESCOES. Photos on this page show conservation work on
thousand-year-old Faras frescoes now being carried out at Warsaw museum. Left,
specialists undertake minute examination of front and back of each fresco. Tracing
paper is used to note slightest anomaly, incrustations, etc. Below, back of frescoes
is scraped down almost to the painted layer and the plaster is then treated chemically
to eliminate harmful salts which could alter and damage colours. Above, ironing ope¬
ration on front of fresco melts the beeswax and muslin layers are removed one by one.
Colour page, opposite
Machines and construction material crowd the area before the Great Temple of Abu
Simbel as work begins in spring of 1964 on protective cofferdam, 360 metres long.
Impregilo.
Centre colour pages
Left : Sanctuary in splints. After being dismantled stone by stone, the Kalabsha temple,
as big as Notre Dame cathedral, has been rebuilt 30 kilometres from its original site.
Right: Before being moved to safety in 1964, these sphinxes lining the sacred avenue
leading to the temple of Wadi-es-Sebua were submerged for nine months of the
year by the encroaching Nile. Under the avenue a new temple has been found.
Bottom : Pylon of the Wadi-es-Sebua temple during dismantling operations in the
summer of 1 964. The temple will be rebuilt in the same area but on a higher level.
Photos © Tony Saulnier

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RETURN
TO THE
LAND OF KUSH
WHEN in the spring of this year I stepped off the
plane at Wadi Haifa, exactly two years had gone
by since last I set foot in Sudanese Nubia. Only two
years, yet in that short time the vitality that for so long
has given shape and substance to the Nubian concept
of life had ebbed. From the banks of the Nile deserted
villages stared out at me like empty eye sockets. The
characteristic sound of the sakieh wheels half screech,
half groan lifting life-giving water on to the land was
absent.
Already the desert was moving in and sand choked
the irrigation ditches. The strips of cultivation on islands
and riverbank alike were yellowing and withered, their
frugal harvests ungathered. For the Nubians their exodus
had begun. This ancient people, calm of mien, independent
Colour page, opposite
A total of 169 frescoes has been brought to light by the Polish
Archaeological Mission in Nubia in the cathedral buried beneath
the sands at Faras. They are as brightly coloured as when they
were painted in the 7th century A.D. (see page 17). Above left,
detail of The Nativity (7 * 4.30 metres) depicting The Three Kings.
Below: Head of a woman. (Details of frescoes from Faras).
Right : Egyptian funerary mask with pectoral decoration (1750 B.C.)
discovered at Mirgissa in Sudanese Nubia. These masks which
are made of plaster with a backing of cloth have a great variety
of colours and decorative forms. (See page 2.)
Bottom left: Removal of a wooden coffin from the necropolis
at Mirgissa 3,500 years after its burial.
Bottom right: Funerary statuettes of granite and marble from
Mirgissa. They date back almost 4,000 years.
Photos © André Vila - French Archaeological Mission
by Rex Keating
of mind was leaving the beloved home land, for a settlement
prepared for them 900 miles away, in east Sudan.
Their former dwellings of mud-brick, cool, spacious
and wholly satisfying to the eye, products of the very
soil of Nubia and perfectly adapted to meet the rigours
of its climate, soon will be transformed by the embrace
of the Nile into so many shapeless heaps of silt. The
charming little riverside hotel at Wadi Haifa, well-remem¬
bered by travellers journeying between the Sudan and
Egypt, and known latterly to the legions of foreign tourists
eager for a last glimpse at the doomed monuments and
works of the past, will retain for a while a watery sem¬
blance of its identity, built as it is of stone. Also of stone,
the railhead buildings, docks and warehouses and, possibly
the mosque and the house in which Kitchener planned the
strategy of the River War campaign, will likewise survive
below water long after the shops and houses of the little
town have disintegrated.
Contrasting sharply with the absence of life in Nubian
village and cultivation was the increase in archaeological
activity. Little groups of archaeologists seemed to be
everywhere measuring, surveying, digging or emerging
from one or other of the countless graves they have
excavated.
As an example, the average number of archaeologists
and other specialists from the four countries of the Scan¬
dinavian Joint Expedition has been twenty. In four highly
successful seasons of survey and digging on the east
bank of the Nile they have excavated everything ceme¬
teries, settlements and churches recovering in the pro¬
cess a multitude of objects of museum standard. The
1961-2 season had produced a rich harvest of C-group
remains enabling the Scandinavians to demonstrate how 27
the culture of this remarkable African people had been
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE

LAND OF KUSH (Cont'd)
The valley of lost rivers
totally absorbed by that of neighbouring Egypt by 1500 B.C.
The origins of the C-group, however, have yet to be
discovered.
The season of 1962-63 had enabled the Scandinavians
to turn back the clock of history even further, to well before
2000 B.C., with the finding of stratified settlements that
yielded valuable information on early Nubia, with data
on the palaeolithic inhabitants of the area, ranging through
neolithic to the A-group people forerunners of the C-group.
During this season alone, the expedition cleared and
recorded some two thousand burials, from A-group to
early Christian a time spectrum of forty-five centuries. It
was from an A-group grave of a woman that there came
two unique figurines of unburnt clay, one of a mature female,
the other of a young girl just emerging from childhood; they
are masterpieces of prehistoric art.
Another remarkable and inexplicable A-group interment
was that of a man who had buried with him a mineralogical
collection of all the many types of stones of the neigh¬
bourhood ochres, amethyst, chert, quartz, granite, etc.
This was at Abka and I was taken to a desolate valley
nearby which to me was as moving as it was impressive.
The valley was filled with black granite boulders smoothed
by countless floods and across their polished surfaces
marched animals by the thousand, carved with immense
labour on the iron-hard stone by ancient man. There
were rows of cattle, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus and
other large animals long since extinct in this part of Africa
and among them human figures, usually in hunting scenes.
The oldest of the carvings, a series of abstract shapes,
has been dated to approximately 8000 B.C.. In all, the
Scandinavians located and recorded in this one valley close
on 3,000 groups of pictographs.
Throughout the four seasons of excavation the Scan¬
dinavians have been concerned to find in Nubia cultural
links between ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean cultures
and the civilizations of inner Africa. The leader of the
expedition, Professor T. Säwe-Söderberg, believes that
such links may well be found in the as yet unexplored
MYSTERIOUS CLAY
FIGURES. These re¬
markable figurines of
unburnt clay (right),
depicting, a mature wo¬
man and a young girl,
came from the grave
of a woman in Sudanese
Nubia. They date back
5,000 years to the time
of. the "A-people", as
archaeologists term the
original inhabitants of
Nubia. The Scandina¬
vian Joint Expedition
which found these figu¬
rines is one of the
many archaeological
groups working in Su¬
danese Nubia. By lo¬
cating and excavating
settlements, churches
and thousands of tombs
it has helped to shed
new light on the history
of early man in Nubia.
Photos © Rex Keating
stretch of the Nile between Semna and the Dal Cataract
(the extreme limit of the area to be flooded) and south
of there to Kerma. It is good to know that the first step
is now being taken in the form of a preliminary ground
survey of this crucial reach of the Nile. The Unesco Mis¬
sion to Sudanese Nubia is conducting the survey but It
is, of course, no more than a reconnaissance; the excava¬
tion of the sites located will, one must hope, be under¬
taken by expeditions from abroad.
A few days in Nubia were enough for me to notice a
marked change in the pattern of archaeology there. Two
ROCK ART GALLERY. In
a deserted valley near Abka
in Sudanese Nubia thousands
of animals including giraffe,
elephant and ostrich today
extinct in this part of Africa
march across the polished
surfaces of the great, black
granite boulders (photos left
and right). They were carved
on the iron-hard stone by
early man. Some 3,000 groups
of these carvings were recently
recorded in a single valley.
Further north in Egyptian Nu¬
bia similar rock drawings have
been found by the Austrian
Archaeological Mission.
Among those ascribed to the
"A-Group" people of 5,000
years ago one (right above)
showsan animal seizing its prey.
Photos © Rex Keating

years before, the emphasis had been on classical archa¬
eology; now it seemed to have shifted to pre-history and
palaeontology with teams from two large U.S. expeditions
very much in evidence on both sides of the Nile.
Professor Shiner, leader of the expedition of the Museum
of New Mexico, told me that they were concentrating on
the excavation of prehistoric sites located during their
surveys of the two previous seasons. Some twenty spe¬
cialists in five separate groups were at work and he rec¬
koned they would have cleared around two hundred sites
by the time they left Nubia this year.
Drawing, Austrian Archaeological Mission
X
t
Geological evidence indicated that the river Nile of
today ¡s a relatively new stream less than 50,000 years
old, and that before the Nile cut its present bed through
the sandstone, several great rivers flowed across the
plateau. And along these streams lived the makers
of the stone artifacts that prehistorians term "tools". The
abundance of artifacts suggests that prehistoric man found
this part of Africa a most congenial place in which to
live with a climate very different from that of today. Habi¬
tation sites have been found 20 miles out In the desert;
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE
29

LAND OF KUSH (Cont'd)
A mighty walled city
emerges from the sand
nowadays no man could survive more than a few hundred
yards from the river.
Apparently about 10,000 years ago an enormous increase
in rainfall resulted in a Nile discharge at least three times
that of the present day. Elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus
and other large fauna proliferated, which would account
for the numberless pictographs of these large animals
found everywhere in Nubia. Then around 3000 B.C. a
steadily decreasing rainfall brought about a corresponding
desiccation of the landscape until Nubia became what
we see today an arid wilderness of sand and rock, enfold¬
ing pockets of cultivated soil and palm trees.
Professor Shiner was enthusiastic about the richness
of the prehistoric sites: "In America we have a relatively
late development in the history of man. To the best of our
knowledge man has been in the New World only a very
short time, and characteristically we think of a very early
civilization as being something from not more than ten
or fifteen thousand years ago. In Nubia, ten or fifteen
thousand years is just scratching the surface. On the
earliest sites in America we might dig for a month and
find a dozen tools. An extremely rich site might produce
fifty tools. Here in Nubia we find hundreds in a day...
the quantities are absolutely enormous."
Dr. Papworth, of the University of Colorado's Mission
to Nubia, spoke of how the twenty or so specialists of
the expedition were working in the fields of palaeontology
and physical anthropology. He enthused, like Professor
Shiner, over the prehistoric remains: "...never before have
I literally walked through fields of handaxes."
I O doubt eyebrows will be raised among the
N: more conservative of field archaeologists at the
action of the Colorado expedition in bringing the world
of statistics and information processing to Nubia. For the
study of human skeletal material, Dr. Papworth and a col¬
league have developed a punchcard system whereby a single
skeleton can be broken down into some 52,000 different
"attribute combinations."
Such data, programmed and fed into a computer, makes
possible instant comparison between populations. A sam¬
ple of some 500 skeletons of various periods has been
collected for processing in this way and it is hoped that
new light will be thrown on the origins and migrations
of the peoples of Nubia over the millenia.
Probably the most significant finds in the field of pre¬
history have been the discovery of palaeolithic "houses"
by the New Mexico expedition and a palaeolithic cemetery
by the expedition of Colorado. In the latter fossil hominid
skeletons were buried in association with palaeolithic
tools.
Far and away the most spectacular excavation now going
on in Sudanese Nubia is at Mirgissa where the French
Archaeological Mission led by Professor J. Vercoutter has
been making remarkable discoveries in and around the
Egyptian Middle Kingdom fortress, (circa 2000 B.C). It
30 is gigantic, and literally millions of mud-bricks, strengthened
with wooden beams by the thousand, went into its construc¬
tion. High above the west bank of the Nile, the fortress
commands wonderful views of the Second Cataract and
its myriad islands. It stands on a precipitous cliff and
immediately below is a sandy plain extending to the river's
edge.
It was in this plain that the French archaeologists found
a complex of fortified walls, towers and bastions completely
buried in sand, which had preserved them so well that
walls stood all of thirty feet high enclosing staircases and
rooms with roofs intact. Subsequently the fortifications
were found to extend along the river bank for fully a kilo¬
metre to the north. In the course of digging, a town
of the Middle Kingdom period was revealed, laid out with
military precision and with each house enclosed by curious
undulating walls. So vast is the site that when the 1963-64
season came to an end, the sandy plain to the south was
still unexplored.
Now, more than ever, Mirgissa poses the question: why
the stupendous display of military strength? In the remains
of the temple inside the upper fortress the French Mission
has found the answer, or so Professor Vercoutter believes.
In a shrine dedicated to Hathor they came across a small
wooden stele bearing the word "Iken". Iken was the
entrepot of ancient Egypt in Nubia, where the caravans
and ships bearing the gold of Nubia and the rich produce
of the lands of the south came to store and tranship their
cargoes for eventual on-carriage to Egypt. According to
a stele of Senusret Ml found at Semna, the king orders
the fortress garrison there to prevent any Nubians going
north except to Iken for trading purposes. The whereabouts
of Iken have long been disputed. At last, the immensely
strong military defences may be explained.
A. Rosenwasser
ROYAL SON OF KUSH. Since 1961, the Argentine has
sent several teams of archaeologists to work in Sudanese
Nubia. In collaboration with French archaeologists, these
teams cleared the temple of Aksha, and dismantled parts of
it including important reliefs, which have been taken to
Khartoum. The Argentine Mission, led by Professor
A. Rosenwasser, made significant discoveries during 1962-
63: five chapels raised by the Pharaoh Seti I, father of
Rameses II, and a fragment (below) of the door leading to
a chapel dedicated by the Nubian viceroy, Heqanakht to
Rameses II. The viceroy is seen here in ceremonial dress.
Above him is inscribed : "Heqanakht, Royal Son of Kush".

Rex Keating This year, thirty-five centuries after it was built, the temple of the fortress of Semna West (Suda¬
nese Nubia) was dismantled stone by stone. It will be reconstructed with other rescued temples
North of the fortress the excavators found a roadway
of wooden poles rather like the sleepers of a railroad. The
poles were about 40 centimetres apart and overlaid with
a skin of silt. This seems to have been a slipway for the
"dragging" of ships round the edge of the dangerous rapids
nearby; indeed footprints of sailors who pulled the vessels
along the slippery mud surface 4,000 years ago were clearly
visible. This "dragging" operation is often referred to in
ancient texts but never explained. The slipway extends
for two kilometres and may be even longer. Here is a
discovery of the first importance and if other rapids in
the "Belly of Stone", as this part of the Second Cataract
is named, were to be examined, similar slipways would
probably be unearthed.
Other important discoveries at Mirgissa have been a
cache of some 3,000 fragments of "execration texts" bearing
the names of many of the tribes regarded by the Egyptians
as enemies, and an unplundered cemetery of the "Kerma"
culture. The graves yielded examples of the beautiful
Kerma pottery and many other funerary objects. Kerma is
well over 100 miles to the south and its African culture had
important links with Egypt. This cemetery marks the most
northerly point of penetration by the Kerma people yet
discovered.
in the gardens of a new museum at Khartoum, capital of the Sudan. Here, huge blocks of stone,
some weighing three tons, are dragged along a "railway" of planks to a raft on tho Nile.
Out of the desert, two kilometres to the west of the
upper fortress is the pharaonic cemetery. Unplundered
tombs have yielded a wealth of fine objects of the Egyptian
Middle and New Kingdom periods. Many bodies of both
sexes were found and, curiously, there seems to have
been a predominence of elderly persons. There were
no children in the cemetery but in the upper fortress some
thirty large pottery jars were uncovered, each containing
a still-born child.
The French Mission plans to continue work at Mirgissa
for another two seasons, if the flood waters permit. Is
it too much to hope that they may yet uncover the ware¬
houses of this ancient transit fort ? For the historian Mir¬
gissa could prove of inestimable value if thoroughly
excavated. But to clear thoroughly so complex a site
covering many hundreds of acres, would require several
seasons of work by an expedition far larger than the
present one, which seldom has had more than four on the
scientific strength. Despite the sterling efforts of the
French Mission, Mirgissa bids fair to become a major
casualty of the High Dam.
31
Some ten miles north of Mirgissa lies that other great
CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE

32
LAND OF KUSH (Cont'd)
Down mahogany rails
to a pontoon raft
Egyptian fortress, Buhen, where the Egypt Explorations
Society's expedition under Professor W. B. Emery has this
year brought to an end eight seasons of excavation. The
first thing I noticed at Buhen was the absence of the temple
of Queen Hatshepsut which had dominated the fortress.
This 18th Dynasty stone temple, the finest in Sudanese
Nubia, now lies in neatly packed crates at Khartoum, where
I had seen it a few days earlier.
Last season's work was devoted to the clearance of the
earlier Middle Kingdom temple which lay beneath Hatshep-
sut's. Unfortunately the 18th Dynasty builders used stone
foundations of enormous size which they drove down
through the mud-brick structure built some 500 years before
their day and largely destroyed it. Nevertheless, Professor
Emery's excavations have been very satisfactory in revealing
detailed information about building methods used at that
time.
With a perimeter over a mile in length, the fort and Its
associated military town have been totally cleared and
measured; with the completion of eight years of work a
new chapter in the history of ancient Egyptian architecture,
in particular military architecture, has been written. The
labour of publication will be formidable, Involving close on a
hundred plans, elevations and drawings.
HE Egyptian Old Kingdom town discovered on
the outskirts of Buhen in 1961 has been cleared
but was found to be badly denuded. Nevertheless, clay
sealings firmly dated the place to the middle of the 4th Dy¬
nasty and it may have been founded even earlier although
proof is lacking. Historically, this town is an outstanding¬
ly Important discovery since it pushes back the date of the
Egyptian occupation of Nubia by some 300 years, to the
age of Cheops and the Great Pyramid. It reveals, too,
the establishment at this early date of a major industry
copper smelting far from the Egyptian homeland in what
was considered hostile territory by the early Egyptians.
The large copper deposits which once fed the furnaces
cannot be far from Buhen, but unfortunately, they have not
been traced.
Semna, during the Middle Kingdom period, was the
southernmost limit of Egyptian influence. There on each
bank of the Nile the Egyptians built a fortress and in those
two fortresses five centuries later the Pharaoh Thutmose III
raised stone temples. For three days in the fortress of
Semna West I watched the absorbing spectacle of a Ger¬
man architect supervising the dismantling of the temple
in precisely the reverse order of its construction thirty-five
centuries before.
The interior of the temple had been filled -with rubble
and outside more rubble extended to roof level. The roof
blocks, each weighing up to three tons, were moved first
and dragged down the rubble slope by a gang of some
forty men. Then the level of the rubble was lowered and
the next course of stones removed. And so on down
to the foundations.
From the temple roof a double line of mahogany planks
ran down between the rocks to the bank of the river half
CONT'D ON PAGE 34
-» *
' .
T/-»
:r-\-
I ,
:.
-« -i- i 1
EL- Z-f
arp^^r
Above, a vast scroll written in Coptic, found with
its counterpart in Arabic in the burial chamber of a
14th century bishop at Kasr Ibrim. These important
documents authorized the bishop's enthronement in
Nubia in 1372 A.D. Right, the burial place beneath
the cathedral at Kasr Ibrim with the bishop's clothing
among which the two 16 ft. scrolls were found.

Towering 200 feet
above the Nile 35
miles north of Abu
Simbel, the mas¬
sive citadel of Kasr
Ibrim has dominat¬
ed the river from
its rocky crag for
over 3,500 years.
Photos © Egypt
Exploration Society,
London
*#
t-iK>*vßf*
THE SCROLLS OF KASR IBRIM
OLLOW the Nile downstream
(northwards) from Abu Simbel
for thirty miles or so and suddenly tower¬
ing 200 feet high into the skyline rises a
rocky, craggy cliff topped by a spread of
ruins. This is Kasr Ibrim, fortress and
cemetery, the stage on which 35 centuries
of history have been played.
Expeditions from the Egypt Exploration
Society (of Great Britain) have been
working here since 1961 and have found
the whole area tremendously rich in
archaeological material of all kinds from
the 18th Dynasty 1570 B.C. down to
doned after the forcible expulsion of the
Mamelukes by Mohamet Ali.
One of the major and most exciting
discoveries has come with the excavation
in 1963-1964 under the direction of J.M.
Plumley, Professor of Egyptology at the
University of Cambridge, of the remains
y
y. \|
-
f ¿Mr
i
T' T m
v2t?
1
|
i
* i
i
of a vast Christian Church in fact the
finest ecclesiastical building in all Nubia
and the unearthing of the undisturbed
burial of a 14th-century Christian bishop.
Amongst his clothing were found two
scrolls each 16 feet long, one, in Coptic,
the official notification of the bishop's
consecration in Old Cairo to the combined
See of Faras and Ibrim in Nubia, the other
its counterpart in Arabic. The date of
the scrolls is 1372 A.D.
Up to now it was generally believed
that Christianity in Nubia had been given
its deathblow with the Moslem onslaught
bishop's burial and the scrolls as well as
other finds demonstrate that far from
being exterminated in Nubia, Christianity
survived into the 14th and even the 15th
century.
Other excavations carried out during
the last season at Kasr Ibrim have reco-
Beneath the stairway
of a Christian house
at Kasr Ibrim archae¬
ologists found this
red earthenware pot
with black painted
designs, containing
the nine leather
scrolls written in Old
Nubian seen in the
basket alongside it.
vered further archaeological material of
the utmost importance. Of special signi¬
ficance have been the findings of In¬
scribed material in Egyptian hieroglyphs
and Meroitic, the discovery of nine lea¬
ther scrolls written in Old Nubian found
stored away in a pot under the stairway
of a Christian house, and many fragments
of manuscripts In Greek, Coptic, Old Nu¬
bian and Arabic. Among the Old Nubian
manuscripts some which are undoubtedly
letters are of special interest. The 1961
excavations of cemeteries were carried
out under the direction of Professor W.B.
Emery and have added to our knowledge
who inhabited the fortress of Kasr Ibrim
until the latter half of the sixth century
when Christianity swept into Nubia.
Much time will be needed to examine
all the material found thus far at Ibrim.
As Professor Plumley has said, "When
this has been studied it will be possible
to fill in some of the details of 3,500 years
of the successive occupations of the for¬
tress by the Ancient Egyptians, the Meroi-
tes, the X-group people, the Nubian Chris¬
tians, the Bosnians [who came as merce¬
naries in the 16th century and settled
down for three hundred years] and the
ill-starred Mamelukes. It is hoped that
further excavation of the site will be
possible, and that more material will be
recovered to throw fresh light upon the
long history of now vanishing Nubia."

LAND OF KUSH (Cont'd)
Something unforeseen happened
and the villagers never came back.
a kilometre away. As each block, chemically treated,
wrapped in muslin and bandaged in cotton waste, was
lowered down the slope, it was eased into the crate made to
hold it and pushed on a metal-shod sled and down the
mahogany rails to the river where a pontoon raft constructed
on the site from fifty oil drums and beams of mahogany,
received it. The raft, secured to a wire hauser, was pulled
across the fast running Nile to the east bank where the
stones were off-loaded to await the trucks that would
carry them on the next stage of the journey to Khartoum.
The temple in the sister fortress of Semna East is slightly
smaller and when he dismantled it some weeks after my
visit, the architect, Mr. F. Hinkel, found intact about fifteen
foundation deposits and, unexpectedly, inscribed stones
of another temple dating from two reigns earlier. The cost
of dismantling these two temples was borne by the govern¬
ments of Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the gardens of the new museum now nearing completion
In Khartoum, a stretch of water will simulate the river Nile
and around it will rise the reconstructed temples of Semna
and Buhen orientated as they were in Nubia. Also around
the lake will be placed fragments of other Nubian temples,
including reliefs from the temple of. Aksha, pillars from
churches and various inscribed stones and rock carvings.
On the island of Meinart is a large mound long believed
to conceal yet another Middle Kingdom fortress. However,
Dr. W. Adams, head of the Unesco Mission to Sudanese
Nubia, has shown otherwise. His excavations have
revealed an extensive Christian settlement. The mound
is important because the stratification is exceptionally
good; at the time of my visit no less than eleven distinct
Christian occupation levels had been exposed, with signs
of pre-Christian structures beneath.
LEVEL five revealed one of those tantalizing
little mysteries that will never be solved. It
seems that the entire population of the village at that time
abandoned it, but at their leisure. Moreover they intended
to return because they left behind in the houses all their
household goods. But something unforeseen happened
and they never did come back. The sand drifted in cover¬
ing the floors and concealing everything left by the former
owners. And when the village was re-occupied the new¬
comers left the sand-covered floors undisturbed, merely
laying new floors of mud plaster on the top. So it came
about that a thousand years or so later, Dr. Adams received
a rich haul of early Christian domestic objects in excellent
shape.
Dr. Adams explained that the archaeological survey
for which the Unesco Mission had responsibility, was
completed by the end of the third season. It covered the
west bank of the Nile, including islands, from Faras at the
Egyptian frontier, south to Gemai a distance of fifty miles.
Three hundred and fifty sites were discovered of which
270 were partly excavated by the Mission. Now the
Unesco Mission is surveying south of Gemai to the Dal
Cataract which is 100 miles inside Sudanese Nubia and the
34 extreme limit of the flood.
And so to Faras and the Polish Archaeological Mission.
This centre of Christian culture in Nubia has continued to
produce spectacular evidence of its great past. In the
cathedral 160 or so frescoes have been uncovered, most
of them brilliantly coloured. Of these, about eighty are
sufficiently well preserved for exhibition and have been
removed from the walls of the building for despatch to
Khartoum ; several of these, notably the Nativity scene and
the Youths in the Fiery Furnace, are magnificent, measuring
four by six and a half and three and a half by three metres,
respectively.
I
NSCRIPTIONS and graffitti recorded in the
cathedral of Pachoras, to give it its ancient
name, number around 500. Near the cathedral, a second
church has been discovered together with several buildings,
of which two were bishops' palaces, tombs of bishops and
a nearly complete list of the bishops of Pachorus containing
27 names. At Faras there are Meroitic and Pharaonic
remains including, very possibly, a fortress of the Middle
Kingdom, all unexcavated. Faras, indeed, is one of the
richest sites in Nubia and it is tragic that time has now
run out; being so far north and only just above the present
level of the Nile, Faras will be one of the first sites to
be inundated.
In May of this year the engineers finally blocked the
Nile at the High Dam. From now on the river flowing through
Nubia will steadily deepen. For Nubia the end is in sight.
Low lying places like Buhen and Faras will be the first
to go under, but for prehistoric remains up on the Nile
terraces and sites like Mirgissa and Semna on the higher
levels, there is still time for the rescue operation to continue.
Particularly is this true of the unexcavated area south of
Gemai to the Dal Cataract.
The conditions of work will not be easy. According to
Dr. T. H. Thabit, Commissioner for Antiquities in the Sudan,
with the closing of the railhead and abandonment of Wadi
Haifa, a centre further south for the supply of food and
other necessities for those expeditions that elect to
continue working in Sudanese Nubia will be needed. A
plan to cover transport and other essential facilities is now
under consideration in Khartoum.
Less than five years have passed since Unesco launched
the international campaign to save Nubia's ancient
monuments and sites. Never before has an entire region
been archaeologically investigated on so grand a scale
and with a thoroughness that only the application of modern
field techniques can command. The results have been
fruitful to an outstanding degree.
Meanwhile the Nubian chapter of man's history is not
quite closed. Several missions plan to continue digging.
Others will surely follow their example.
REX KEATING of Unesco radio has visited Nubia four times on
behalf of Unesco since the start of the International Campaign. He
returned again a few months ago to gather material for the above
article and for a new series of ten radio programmes, "The Sands
of Nubia", which will shortly be given world-wide distribution. He
is the author of "Nubian Twilight" published in 1962.

One of the most grace¬
ful objects excavated in
Nubia was this copper
mirror found by the
Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago
in an18th-Dynasty tomb
at Qustul south of Abu
Simbel. Its handle is for¬
med by the figure of a
young girl holding two
delicately curved papy¬
rus leaves. The mirror
may have been the
workmanship of crafts¬
men from Thebes. Be¬
low, statue of the famous
Nubian prince, Heka
Nefa of Miam, who was
a contemporary of
Tutankhamon. The dis¬
covery of his long-
sought tomb at Toshke
(south of Kasr Ibrim) by
a joint expedition of the
Universities of Yale and
Pennsylvania is one of
the major contributions
to the Campaign by
American archaeologi¬
cal expeditions to Nubia.
Pennsylvania-Yale
Archaeological Expedition
Expedition of the Oriental
Institute of Chicago

SAILOR'S
FOOTPRINT
IN THE SAND
DESERT HIGHWAY
BUILT FOR SHIPS
: -
Above, the recently-dis¬
covered slipway used for
dragging boats around the
Second Cataract of the Nile.
It was reinforced with
wooden poles, long ago
devoured by termites, but
whose emplacements can
still be seen. Right, a foot-
36 print, over 3,000 years old,
made in the soft mud by one
of the last sailors to drag
a boat along the slipway.
by Jean Vercoutter
Jfc^
i
si' . -? i^HbtE? / ".-
a^ ' ^ . v! ¿HO?;:** V * vV
VElwISli S V t.A .v
Aerial view of Mirgissa, a fortress
in Sudanese Nubia whose citadel
kept watch over the Nile and the
rapids of the Second Cataract
nearly 4,000 years ago. When
these rapids became impassable
during the low water season, the
Nile boatmen outflanked them
by hauling boats along a slipway
constructed on the river bank.
Unesco - Rex Keating
N 1963-64 the French Ar¬
1chaeological Mission in Suda¬
nese Nubia began a systematic explo¬
ration of the archaeological conces¬
sion it had received from the Govern¬
ment of the Sudan. Special surveys
were made in the lowest-lying areas
most immediately threatened by the
waters of the Aswan High Dam.
In these operations, aerial photo¬
graphs of the area taken during 1958-
59 were invaluable. Standing out
clearly on one of these photographs
was a kind of track running from the
area of the west bank of the Nile
northwards to the village of Matouka.
I remember saying jokingly that this
was no doubt the line of a canal which
enabled the Egyptians to outflank the
dangerous rapids between Mirgissa-
Dabenarti and the Rock of Abusir.
At that time I had no idea how close
I was to the truth. The astute Egyp-

Above right, the only complete
sarcophagus recovered from the
cemetery at Mirgissa. A funerary
mask with breast plate attached
covers the face of the dead man.
The sides of the coffin are inscribed
with invocations. Above, the body
is exhumed from 9 ft. underground.
Photos © André Vila -
French Archaeological Mission
tians, however, did not build a canal;
instead they constructed a roadway
on land for their boats, thus anticipating
by many centuries the Greek
architects who conceived the idea of
roads along which ships were dragged
across the Isthmus of Corinth.
The Egyptian technique was remark¬
ably simple. They simply spread a
layer of Nile mud on the sands, after¬
wards reinforcing this half-made track
with wooden poles rather like railroad
sleepers. The imprint of these poles
is still clearly visible although termites
have long since devoured every
particle of the wood itself.
Illustrations on Middle Kingdom
tombs have shown us that the
Egyptians used these viscous subs¬
tances to move colossi far heavier
than the boats that plied the Nile. The
colossi were moved on sledges pulled
by teams of men. The overseer is
shown walking ahead pouring water
on the ground, and his action reveals
the nature of the ground: when silt
from the Nile is moistened it becomes
as slippery as Ice.
An architect friend of mine carried
out an experiment which proved this.
He laid down a track of silt in the
manner of the ancient Egyptians and
placed on it a huge block of stone
that had fallen from the temple of
Karnak. After he had wet the silt, his
problem was no longer how to drag the
stone along the ground, but how to
hold it back and keep it moving in
the right direction.
The technique of using wooden
posts, as revealed at Mirgissa, is
confirmed as a practice of the Middle
Kingdom period by a discovery at
*
\y^
* te - sM^i
iU\ -ÎW3 WvL
vüslur
Mm
u
/"
&
Ä.V>
V
Lahun. Here the Egyptians had used
them to reinforce a track leading from
a quarry, down which they slid huge
blocks of stone for the pyramid raised
by Seostris III.
Thus we have confirmation that the
two methods used by the Egyptians at
Mirgissa wet mud and posts re¬
inforcing the road were already
known in Egypt during the Middle
Kingdom.
I am quite convinced that we disco¬
vered at Mirgissa a slipway that
enabled the Egyptians to travel up
and down the Nile throughout the year.
The passage of the rapids on the
Second Cataract is difficult, though
possible, when the river is in flood.
But during the low-water season the
operation is quite impossible.
To maintain a link with Egypt by
river when the Nile was at Its lowest
level, the ancient garrisons in Nubia
had two alternatives: either to set
out on a long march across the desert
until they reached the next navigable
stretch of the Nile or to drag their
f
/"*
Kv
mmt I
k
boats bodily overland around tho
dangerous rocks that barred their way.
The slipway discovered in 1964 is
remarkably well preserved. Hidden
by only a few centimetres of sand, it
still runs straight and level across
the land. Even the footprints of the
last sailors to pull their boats along
it are clearly visible on the dried mud,
as also are the marks made by the
timbers of the boats.
Already more than one kilometre
of the slipway has been uncovered
and our next task will be to locate the
exact points where this remarkable and
original highway begins and ends.
JEAN VERCOUTTER, head of the French
Archaeological Mission in Nubia, is in charge
of excavations at Mirgissa in the Sudan.
Professor Vercoutter was formerly head of
the Antiquities Service of the Republic of
the Sudan and has also been a member of
of the Institute of Oriental Archaeology in
Cairo. The author of many articles and works
on ancient Egypt and Egyptian archaeology,
he has directed numerous archaeological
excavations in Egypt and the Sudan.
fr~f,4
37

I
A painting of the Kalabsha temple as it was depicted
in November, 1838 by the English artist, David Roberts
(1796-1864) who travelled through Egypt and Nubia
painting and sketching many ancient monuments.
MAGINE being asked to dis¬
mantle a medieval cathedral,
one hundred and twenty metres long
by seventy metres wide, and to
reconstruct it thirty kilometres away.
This was the problem that faced
German archaeologists, engineers and
technicians when they were commis¬
sioned to move, not a cathedral, but an
equally massive structure the Nubian
temple of Kalabsha and to recon¬
struct it thirty kilometres to the north.
Kalabsha, Nubia's largest free-stand¬
ing sanctuary, would otherwise have
been engulfed in the waters of the
Aswan High Dam.
The temple was given its present
form when restored by one of the
Ptolemies and later rebuilt by the
Emperor Augustus (30 B.C.-14 A.D.).
It consists of a pylon of impressive
size, an open peristyle court, a hall of
pillars and an inner chamber. An
outer wall encloses the temple build¬
ings and on the eastern side a jetty of
hewn stone leads to the Nile.
In the southwestern corner of the
outer wall, partly hewn from the solid
rock, is the "birth house" of the
goddess Isis. Built into the massive
girdle wall, twelve feet thick, which
encloses the temple area is a staircase
which leads to the roof and from there
to a small chapel dedicated to Osiris.
To the north of this once sacred place
are the quarries from which the building
material was brought a smooth, fine¬
grained, light-coloured stone still in an
excellent state of preservation except
where damaged by man.
Most of the pictorial decoration in
this noble, well-proportioned structure
is on the inner walls of the sanctuary,
on the entrance facade and the rear
wall and also on the outer shrines
of the hypostyle hall. Kalabsha's
finest artistic treasure is a represent¬
ation of Augustus Caesar in the ritual
dress of the Egyptian Pharaohs, sacri¬
38
ficing to Isis, Osiris, Horus and the
Nubian god Mandulis, on the western
outer wall of the sanctuary.
From its original site at a height of
110 metres above sea level the Kalab¬
sha temple has now been moved to a
new location also on the west bank of
the Nile and thirty kilometres to the
north. The work of dismantling
created some formidable problems.
One thousand six hundred huge blocks
of sandstone, some of them weighing
up to twenty tons, had to be lifted one
by one and carefully placed on boats
moored near the temple.
After being off-loaded near the new
site the blocks were moved on heavy
lorries to a storage area and marked
with identification numbers and sym
MOVING A TEMP
AS A CATHEDRAL
by H. Stock and K. G. Siegler
bols. Before the entire operation
began a detailed inventory was made
of the temple area by the Documen¬
tation Centre on Ancient Egypt, in
Cairo, and by the German archaeo¬
logists and technicians.
Operations lasted from September
1961 until the late autumn of 1963. As
many as 450 workers were employed
on the site, and in the summer of 1962
the work went on in two shifts for
twenty hours a day, in shade tempera¬
tures averaging from forty-five to
fifty-two degrees centigrade.
There were also other problems to
be overcome. In the autumn of 1961
GIANT JIG SAW PUZZLE. Piles of stones, some weighing up to 20 tons,
stretch almost as far as the eye can see. They are from the temple of Kalabsha
in storage after it was dismantled in 1962. Marked with identification num¬
bers they have been placed near the site where Kalabsha has risen again.
© K. G. Siegler

LE AS BIG
work was held up for several months
by the flooding of the Nile. And before
the stones could be landed near the
temple's new site a special harbour
had to be built as well as a road to
give access to the high ground on
which the stones were stored. Twelve
thousand cubic metres of rock were
removed with explosives to prepare
the new building site.
It is difficult to imagine the effect of
such conditions on the small team of
technicians and architects and on the
local workers who laboured under the
burning sun at Kalabsha. In spite of
the stifling heat, which barely abates
even at night, few dared ignore the
dangers of waterborne diseases such
as bilharziasis to risk a swim in the
Nile.
Not one of these men will forget
the lonely, rugged landscape, ochre-
coloured and denuded of vegetation,
or the mighty river, the life-blood of
Egypt, that flows through it. Nor will
they forget the torrid nights and the
starry brilliance of the Nubian sky.
The basic aim of the operation was
to save the Kalabsha temple, though
it was also hoped to discover new
facts about the history of the sanctuary
and the surrounding area, and in any
case to learn more about the ancient
building techniques. These hopes have
been fully realized, since this is the
first time in history that an ancient
building of such size has been dis¬
mantled stone by stone and re-erected
on an entirely new site.
The operation revealed all the
problems and technical difficulties en¬
countered by the architects, builders
and stone masons of 2,000 years ago.
It was possible to see how they trans¬
ported, measured and worked the stone
and where they made mistakes and
tried to correct them. Even the archi¬
tectural planning that went into the
temple was revealed in detail.
The poor state of preservation of
certain parts of the great edifice
created some new problems when
AN OASIS OF TEMPLES. The site on which the reconstructed temple of
Kalabsha now stands will be transformed into an island by the rising waters
of the Aswan High Dam. As other temples are rebuilt here it will become
an island oasis for some of Nubia's precious monuments. Above, the colonna¬
ded forecourt of Kalabsha, a temple dedicated to Madulis, the Nubian sun
god. Kalabsha is a superb example of Egyptian art of the Roman period.
reconstruction began. In 1907 the
Italian architect, Barsanti, had carried
out admirable and painstaking work
to protect the temple from further
deterioration, but serious damage had
already occurred. Many pillars and
capitals, beams and ceilings had
collapsed. Holes had been torn in the
reliefs by those in search of plunder.
These wounds were now healed by
restoration work and the closing up of
the ugly holes that pierced the walls.
The greatest problem of all was
posed by the ceilings of the sanctuary
and the hypostyle halls which had al¬
most completely collapsed. Most of
these ceilings were made of immense
blocks of stone, some seven metres
long, whose transport and storage
must have been tremendous problems
for the original builders.
It was finally decided to restore the
ceilings in the sanctuary, and this
was done with prefabricated rein¬
forced concrete beams covered with a
light coating of plaster. This plaster
finish was encircled with narrow groves
to identify it as a modem addition to
the original structure.
Thus, in the half light of the inner
rooms, the precious reliefs are effec
iO Rex Ksating
tively protected from further damage
by the elements. Visitors to the tem¬
ple will see them as they appeared in
the past, magical and mysterious, and
illuminated solely by the sparse rays
of light that penetrate the tiny antique
window slits and the few openings in
the ceilings copied from the original
building.
Soon the great old Kalabsha temple,
newly rebuilt and consolidated, will be
handed over to the people of the Uni¬
ted Arab Republic by the government
of the Federal Republic of Germany in
fulfilment of its pledge to Unesco a
symbol of international co-operation
in the preservation of a priceless cultu¬
ral heritage.
HANNS STOCKand KARLGEORG
SIEGLER carried out studies on the pro¬
blems of dismantling, removing and recon¬
structing the temple of Kalabsha at the request
of the Institute ofArchaeology of the Federal
Republic of Germany. Prof. Stock is an
archaeologist; Dr. Siegler is an architect
who specializes in antiquities. They are the
authors of "Kalabsha The Great Nubian 30
Temple and the Story of Its Rescue."
recently published in German by F. A.
Brockhaus. Wiesbaden. Fed Rep. of Germany.

The Aswan High Dam
KEY TO A NATION'S FUTURE
by Taher Abu Wafa
Under-Secretary of State
Ministry of the Aswan High Dam
I EARLY forty million people live in the Nile basin,
N: twenty-seven million of them within the frontiers
of Egypt. They are the people whose lives are most closely
bound up with the waters of the Nile. Over ninety-nine
per cent of these twenty-seven million people have their
homes along the banks of the river in an area covering
35,000 square kilometres. Thus, with an average of 770
people per square kilometre, this tract of the Nile Valley
has the highest population density of any country in the
world.
At the end of the 18th century the population of Egypt
numbered between two and a half and three million and
by the middle of the 19th century it had risen to four and
three quarter million. Since then it has grown rapidly and
is now increasing at an alarmingly high rate. In the fifty
years ending in 1952 Egypt's population actually doubled,
although its national revenue only increased by seventeen
per cent. The solution to this crucial problem was to create
a balanced growth between population and production.
The construction of the High Aswan Dam, the "Sadd-el-
Aali" was undertaken as a broad approach to the problem
of supplying this fast-multiplying population with sufficient
food and fibres for textile production. It was also conceived
as a bold, direct approach to control of the Nile's water
resources for agricultural expansion, the production of
cheap hydroelectric power, protection against flooding and
the improvement of irrigation and draining conditions as
well as for the development of fish resources and
recreational facilities.
Five thousand years ago Egypt claims to have had the
world's oldest dam, one hundred and ten metres long by
twelve metres high, which was built near Cairo to store
water for drinking and irrigation. And basin Irrigation,
introduced on the Nile about 3300 B.C., still plays a major
role In Egyptian farming.
Under this ancient irrigation system dikes are built to
divide the land into basins of from 1,000 to 40,000 acres and
flood waters are then let into the compartments to a depth
of from one to two metres. Forty to sixty days later when
the river has fallen, these lands are drained and crops are
grown with the help of the moisture that remains in the
soil. Some 700,000 acres of Egyptian land are still watered
by this proved system of irrigation, although only one crop
can be produced annually.
During the past century much as been done to conserve
the waters of the Nile for irrigation.. But even today some
of each annual flood flows to waste into the Mediterranean.
This may not amount to much in the years of low floods,
but in peak flood years it can total as much as 100,000 million
cubic metres of water.
The original Aswan Dam was built in 1902 to store some
of the excess flood water so as to supplement the discharge
of the Nile when its level dropped. The wall of this dam
was raised in 1912 and again in 1933, thereby doubling
the storage capacity. A new dam was also built at Gebel
40 Awlia, near Khartoum, in 1937.
With the construction of the new High Dam, seven
kilometres upstream from the existing dam, it will now be
possible to control the whole volume of the river and to
store all the surplus water. Rising one hundred and eleven
metres above the river bed, the dam will be far wider than
the Nile, which at this point is five hundred and fifty
metres from bank to bank. The crest of the High Dam will
extend for 3,600 metres and its base will be nine hundred
and eighty metres wide.
The water impounded behind the dam wall will create
the world's second largest man-made lake. Extending three
hundred and fifty kilometres in the Sudan, it will have an
average width of ten kilometres and a total capacity of
one hundred and fifty-six thousand million cubic metres.
The vast reserve of water will be put to many uses. It
will become possible:
To supply enough irrigation water to develop 1.9 million
acres, thus Increasing the present area of crop-growing
land by about twenty-five per cent;
To meet the full irrigation needs of existing and new
development areas, even in years when the river level
is at its lowest, and thereby increase crop yields;
To increase rice-growing areas to one million acres per
year. In the past twenty years the size of these areas has
varied from 373,000 acres (1953) to 875,000 acres (1947);
To create better drainage conditions thanks to a lower
and more stable water table and a more even distribution of
water In the river and the canals throughout the year;
To put an end to fluctuations in the flow and level of
water in the river and canals which today interfere with
navigation.
Once water levels become more or less stabilized as a
result of the High Dam, the tonnage carried by inland
waterways is expected to increase by between twenty
and thirty per cent.
INCE early times the people of Egypt have been
'subjected to the dangers of the Nile in flood.
They have lived under the protection of embankments built
along the river from Aswan to Cairo (about 900 kilometres)
and along the two branches in the delta (a further 200 kilo¬
metres to the sea). But these embankments were the only
means of flood control and when they were burst
open by the waters the result was a major disaster with
heavy loss of life and widespread damage to crops and
property.
Fortunately no serious breach has been made in the
Nile's banks in the past seventy years and except for the
floods of 1946 and 1954 there has been no really dangerous
inundation during the last half century. Today a serious
flood would create unprecedented havoc because of the
greatly increased area of cultivation, the expansion of indus¬
try and the tremendous rise in population.
To be completely effective any flood protection scheme
on the Nile must keep the volume of water passing down
the branches of the river to the sea below the safe margin

Paul Almasy. Paris The construction ot the Aswan High Dam makes possible a tremendous expansion of
of six hundred and seventy million cubic metres a day. The
High Dam has been designed to give this protection.
The construction of the dam is also a major step towards
the full utilization of the vast potential energy in the waters
of the Nile. To produce electricity for industrial develop¬
ment, twelve generating turbine units with a total capacity
of two million one hundred thousand kilowatts are being
Installed. When completed in 1971 the power station will
have a potential energy of about nine thousand million
kilowatt-hours. By 1972, when more water accumulates in
the new reservoir, power production should reach a maxi¬
mum capacity of ten thousand million kilowatt-hours per
year.
Even if, as presently estimated, the population increases
to thirty-six million by 1972, the High Dam should make
possible an increase of electric power consumption to about
four hundred kilowatt-hours per head of population about
two and a half times the present level. This will permit
the creation of new industries and the expansion of existing
ones. It will also stimulate the development of public
industry and agriculture throughout an entire region. Its waters will irrigate vast tracts
of land and its electricity will feed new industries and allow the expansion of existing
ones such as the Kima fertilizer factory, near Aswan, (above) which has an annual
production of 565,000 tons. More electric power is badly needed: the Kima factory
alone today consumes 78 % of the electricity produced by the existing Aswan dam.
utilities and will greatly facilitate irrigation and drainage
through pumping. It may also make possible the electrifi¬
cation of some of the national railroads.
The total cost of construction in the High Dam project,
including the power station, transmission lines from Aswan
to Cairo, irrigation projects, reclamation of lands, roads and
other public utilities in newly-reclaimed areas, is estimated
at £E415 million (one £E equals $2.78).
To finance the project, loan agreements were made with
the U.S.S.R. which is making available a total of 113,200,000
Egyptian pounds. This sum will cover costs connected
with Soviet technical assistance and the supply of the main
construction equipment as well as other permanent equip¬
ment for the spillway structure, power station and electric
transmission lines.
It has been calculated that the project will bring a total
increase in national income of £E 235 million. The new
dam is not the highest or the largest ever built, but in terms 41
of the benefits that it will bring it can rightly be claimed as
one of the world's great pioneer projects.

Over 40 countries have issued stamps
in the philatelic campaign which
since 1961 has supported Unesco's
efforts to save the monuments of
Nubia. This campaign reached its
most active phase this year when
many countries marked the fourth
anniversary of Unesco's Nubian
Appeal with issues of special stamps.
Some countries are pledged to contri¬
bute a percentage of stamp sales to
the Nubian Appeal Fund and others
have turned over blocks of stamps
to Unesco's Philatelic Service to be
sold for the campaign. Here we pre¬
sent some of the stamps issued on
every continent to help safeguard the
monuments of Nubia. For informa¬
tion write to The Unesco Philatelic
Service, Place de Fontenoy, Paris-7e.
Ö
LU
g I
CL-:
W
5Of,10f.
PQSTÍ AERIEMNE
SAirVTÛAROC MS MONUMENTS DC NUBlt i sah m uu »mu î
In rtnnis >1
A
>
E m
SAIWGAMX MS MOMUHIKIS Dt NUBli
'SAUVEGARDE'
_J . f DES I
3NUMENTS DE NUBIE^
STAMPS FOR NUBIA
EHUBLIQUE Du M M
w.
^'*^Afltó--- **«|
.JlWSsjg^.
5ÜL ROYAUME du MAROC '

CONSERVACIÓN MONUMENTOS DE NUBIA
a
J
REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA 9JM**lTft Oft NUllft I
mJW-l1 tM«

44
AID IN THE CLASSROOM
Sir,
Your magazine obviously has a
special usefulness in the classroom.
As a teacher in the city of Rabat-Salé
I have urged all my colleagues to
subscribe to it and I have set them
the example by subscribing to both
the French and Arabic editions. I
should like to make three suggestions:
(1) Include with each issue a colour
photograph of a building, a city or ins¬
titution or else the map of a country;
(2) Publish in each issue a report or
broad survey of one of the developing
countries; (3) Give us more articles
by Arab, African and Asian writers and
publish more translations of poems.
Letters to the Editor
A. Kombi
Salé, Morocco
WORLD'S NEED OF HUMUS
Sir,
The letter drawing attention to the
immense reserves of humus in the
soils of tropical lands (April 1964)
spotlights the fact that the world's
need of humus will become acute in
the years ahead when soil Impov¬
erishment will make its impact on
the quality and size of harvests. The
fertility of crop-growing land cannot
be maintained by chemical fertilizers
alone. Only the combined effects of
chemical and organic fertilizers can
increase soil fertility and provide
sufficient food for a growing world
population.
Too little attention has been paid
to this question in the past. It is
one of our most urgent problems.
One day man's whole future may
depend on it even in the developed
countries. The solutions have already
been found and the real problem is
how to put them into practice. Until
now the problem has only been attack¬
ed on a municipal scale with the
aim of getting rid of city wastes
rather than of producing new ferti¬
lizers. Undertaken on a national
scale or by large international enter¬
prises it could result In (1) the dis¬
appearance of city and industrial
wastes now polluting the air and the
outskirts of urban areas; (2) the
cleansing of polluted waters in rivers
and streams and the recovery of use¬
ful sediments; (3) the production of
concentrated, organo-chemical fertili¬
zers to increase soil fertility; (4) posi¬
tive action In the struggle to defeat
hunger.
Finally, as your correspondent
suggested, wide use could be made
of the immense reserves of organic
matter in tropical countries, after pro¬
cessing methods had been tried out
in industrially developed countries.
For the humus would still need treat¬
ment. Properly processed, a few
dozen tons would have the same
effect on sterile soil as the hundreds
of tons per hectare that would be
needed if the humus was used in its
original state.
Ft. Jammes
Paris, France
ORIGIN OF CRETAN SCRIPTS
Sir,
In your Issue on The Art of Writing
(March 1964) you state in the article
on Texts from Cretan Monuments
(page 28) that I have suggested the
Cretan Linear A script has Semitic
affinities. I do not support the Semi¬
tic theory. I have proved that the
Cretan Hieroglyphic (Phaistos Disk
and Seals), the Linear A and the
Eteocretan Scripts are all in the
Hittite language. I have lately deci¬
phered the Cypro-Minoan tablet dis¬
covered by Dikaios at Enkomë in 1953
and find that It is also in the Hittite
language.
Prof. S. Davis
University of Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, Rep. of South Africa
ONLY THIRTY-TWO PAGES
Sir,
To me the day the current issue of
The Unesco Courier arrives is a
holiday. I regard The Courier as the
encyclopaedic chronicle of the cultu¬
ral and scientific life of our planet.
It should have no political strings
attached. But the window open on
the world is small; it should long
since have been enlarged and the
glass polished up.
It seems to me that name "Courier"
is not justified by the speed with
which It reacts to events. Many ar¬
ticles are late in appearing; the
Winter Olympic Games were not even
mentioned, although the January 1964
issue dealt mainly with sports. Surely
the Tokyo Olympics are not going to
be by-passed?
I cannot imagine why the story
about the Indian girl who wanted to
go to school was published in the
April 1964 issue. It is of no interest,
either from the artistic or any other
angle.
It would be interesting to know
something about the development of
rocket techniques, the exploration of
space, and of experiments in this field
in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. You
seem to be making an effort to say
as little as possible about these sub¬
jects. The Courier should be the
chronicle of the cultural and scientific
life of our planet and should react
immediately.
In my opinion every issue should
contain a short item with a portrait
and some photos commemorating the
anniversary of a poet, artist or scien¬
tist who has made an Important con¬
tribution to the development of world
science and culture.
I do not agree that signed articles
(which constitute the majority) need
express the opinion only of the
author, which may or may not coin¬
cide with that of Unesco and the
editors. An article written to order
should, in the main, express the
opinion of the editors of our inter¬
national journal. If this is not so you
may descend to the publication of
cheap novelettes and similar rubbish.
I hope you will pardon the sharpness
of my criticism, but I believe it to be
necessary and want it to be helpful.
Titas Alfonsovich Milashius
Minsk, U.S.S.R.
Ed. Note: Please, please, please, we
have only 32 pages a month and we
are not a news magazine.
THE MEANING OF FLAGS
Sir,
I recently decorated a hall for an
international gathering with panels
representing the national flags of
countries participating in the event.
I had great difficulty in obtaining
details of the arms and emblems
decorating the flags in question, and
finally got this information directly
from the various embassies. In thi9
way, for example, I discovered the
symbolic significance of the colours
in the flag of the Republic of India
and of the wheel at its centre.
The flag of India adopted by the
country's Constituant Assembly Is
formed of three horizontal bands co¬
loured saffron, white and green. In
the centre is the Wheel of Asoka.
The central band is the white of the
rays of the sun ; it represents light,
purity and truth which is synonymous
with "Ahimsa" (non-violence). The
colour saffron stands for courage and
sacrifice. Green stands for faith,
chivalry and dependence on the soil.
The Wheel of Asoka (the Dharma
Chakra) Is the symbol of the universal
law, of continual change and progress.
The blue of the wheel Is that of the
sky and the endless oceans.
I should like to suggest that in
future issues of The Unesco Courier
you publish on loose-leaf pages similar
facts concerning all the national flags
of Unesco's member states. Once as¬
sembled these pages would compose
an interesting and instructive collec¬
tion of knowledge which would stimu¬
late new interest among readers in
all countries.
André Ferner
Berne, Switzerland
Ed. Note: Readers may be interested
in the titles of two books that tell the
stories of national flags: "Flag Book of
the United Nations", published by the
U.N. Office of Public information. New
York. 1963 ($1.00): "Flags of the
World" by Gresham H. Can. Published
by F. Warne, London and New York,
1953.

From the Unesco New
VITAL FACTS & FIGURES: An impressive
array of international facts and figures,
ranging from statistics on population and
education to cultural and mass communi¬
cation data, is presented in the first edition
of Unesco's Statistical Yearbook, which
has just been published. In this bilingual
(English-French) volume, Unesco has
assembled information obtained through its
own inquiries and surveys supplemented
by data from national and international
reports and publications. Statistical tables
covering a period of several years make
possible a comparative evaluation of trends
and developments in such fields as film
production, population growth, educational
expansion and book publication. (472 pages;
price: $4.00; 20/-; 14 F Frs.)
INTERNATIONAL CELL RESEARCH: Basic
I research on the cell a field concerned
with processes ranging from cancer to the
very origins of life was recently given
broader international scope. Scientists from
14 countries and nine research organiza¬
tions who attended the first meeting of the
Council of the Unesco-sponsored Inter¬
national Cell Research Organization, held
in Brussels, approved plans for the expan¬
sion of ICRO laboratory networks and
an increase in fellowships and international
training courses.
NEW FACE FOR FARMING: A new sys¬
tem of land terracing is spreading
throughout the Republic of Korea which
will vastly increase food production and
achieve maximum soil and water conser¬
vation. This improved technique was first
Introduced by a U.N. Special Fund project
an agricultural survey and demonstration
programme in the Korean uplands
carried out by FAO with the co-operation
of the American-Korean Foundation.
UNICEF
greeting cards
Last year the United Nations Chil¬
dren's Fund (UNICEF) raised more
than $2 million through the sale of
over 34 million greeting cards.
UNICEF is now using this money to
help children in over 100 countries to
gain better health, nutrition and edu¬
cation. A single box of UNICEF
cards now on sale in 100 countries
can provide vaccine to protect 50
children from tuberculosis. We re¬
produce here one of the 24 cards for
1964, designed and donated by artists
from many countries"Homeward", a
SPECIAL ISSUE ON NUBIA'S
TREASURES STILL AVAILABLE
A special 52-page colour issue of
the Unesco Courier was published
in February 1960, when the world
appeal to save the Nubian treasures
was launched. A valuable additional
source of information on Nubia and
its monuments, this richly-illustrated
issue is still available in limited
quantities (price 2/6d; 60 cents) from
Unesco's National Distributors (see
page 46).
BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF RACE: Biolo¬
gists, geneticists and anthropologists
from 17 countries, assembled under Unesco
auspices in Moscow to study the biological
aspects of race, have drawn up a 13-point
statement on their conclusions which has
now been published by Unesco. The pur¬
pose of the meeting was to revise, in the
light of recent progress In biology and
human genetics, a declaration on the nature
of race and race differences drafted in
1951 at Unesco's request by specialists in
physical anthropology. The conclusions of
the Moscow meeting will be considered
by a further meeting which Unesco will
convene in 1966 to draw up a statement
covering all aspects of the race question.
OUR THIRSTY WORLD: Western Europe
today uses 110,000 gallons of water
per person and per year for its industrial,
agricultural and domestic needs. In the
United States, where the figure for these
same needs is 220,000 gallons, water use
has increased to the point where scarcity
is hindering development in some areas.
woodcut by Sudjana Kerton of Indone¬
sia. UNICEF greeting cards come in
boxes of ten priced at 7/6 (U.K.); $1.25
(U.S.) and 6 F (France). For further
information write: UNICEF GCF, 14-15
Stratford Place, London, W.I, U.K.;
National UNICEF Committee, 280
Bloor St. West, Toronto 5, Ont., Can-
. ada (attn. Mrs. G. Richards); U.S.
Committee for UNICEF, P.O. Box 22,
Church Street Station, New York 8,
N.Y. (attn. Miss Olga Gechas); UNI¬
CEF, Fonds des Cartes de Vrux, 24,
rue Borghèse, Neuilly-s-Selne, France.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE NUBIAN CAMPAIGN
Excavations ; scientific work ; safe¬
guarding monuments other than Abu
Simbel. (See also page 6.)
1. Contributions to the Unesco
Trust Fund
UNITED STATES. $2,380,000: Temple
of Belt el Wall, rock-hewn tomb of
Pennut at Aniba and temple of Wadi
es Sebua.
$120,000: Temple of Buhen.
$6,000,000: Funds reserved for
Phllae.
BELGIUM. $16,560: Temple of Semna
West.
2. Direct participation
ARGENTINA. $32,163 (grants from
scientific Institutions). Excavations.
AUSTRIA. $35,778 (public and private
grants). Excavations and scientific
works.
BELGIUM. $22,500 (public grants and
private donations). Scientific works.
CANADA. $57,400 plus payment of
staff costs, and receipts from exhi¬
bition of Egyptian art treasures. Ex¬
cavations.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA. $284,250 (public
grants). Excavations.
DENMARK. $92,578. Excavations.
FINLAND. $67,812 (public and private
grants). Excavations.
FRANCE. $237,350. Amada.
$32,154. Scientific works.
$18,051. Supplies of material and
services.
Aid in dismantling Aksha temple.
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY.
$1,950,000. Kalabsha.
GHANA. $30,268 (public grants). Ex¬
cavations.
INDIA. $32,760 (public grants). Exca¬
vations.
ITALY. $32,000. Excavations.
JAPAN. $273,100 (private donation
receipts from an exhibition on the
art of ancient Egypt).
NETHERLANDS. $78,620. Semna East.
Payment of technical study for safe¬
guarding of Phllae.
NORWAY. $57,600 (public and private
grants plus payment of staff costs
and provision of transport). Exca¬
vations.
POLAND. Important contributions to
scientific work and excavations.
SPAIN. $226,500 (public grants). Ex¬
cavations.
SWEDEN. $30,238 (receipts from
exhibition of Egyptian art).
$100,800. Excavations.
SWITZERLAND. $23,150 (public
grants). Scientific works.
UNITED KINGDOM. $126,000 (private
donations). Excavations and safe¬
guard of monuments.
UNITED STATES. $1,988,000 (public
and private grants). Excavations.
YUGOSLAVIA. $35,400 (private dona¬
tions). Scientific works.
Flashes..
Professor Norair M. Sissakian. Soviet
biochemist and a member of the U.S.S.R.
Academy of Sciences, was elected president
of the 1 3th session of the Unesco General
Conference which opened in Paris on
October 20. Prof. Sissakian has been a
member of the Unesco Executive Board
since 1 959.
Rumania and Poland have become the 45
22nd and 23rd countries to ratify the
Convention against Discrimination in Educ¬
ation, sponsored by Unesco.

UNESCO COURIER INDEX 1964
January
FAIR PLAY& THE AMATEUR IN SPORT. Sport is education
What makes the athlete run ? Etchcraft on celluloid Countdown
for space flight New tools to map our mineral wealth.
February
WORLD COMMUNICATIONS. A special Unesco report on mass
media developments New sights and sounds in the classroom
The fantastic laser 3,000 years of glass-making Amazing pro¬
perties of modern glass Frescoes from ancient Cyprus.
March
THE ART OF WRITING. Hittite and Maya glyphs Champollion
deciphers Egypt's hieroglyphs The birth of cuneiform Emergence
of the alphabet In the path of sacred books A family of Asian
scripts How Europe began to write 11 centuries of the Cyrillic
alphabet Scripts shrouded in mystery Ideograms from ancient
China.
April
WORLD HEALTH DAY. Tuberculosis: still three million deaths a
year The battle of Tunisia A momentous look into the microscope
Birth of a new vaccine Resurrection of the Eskimoes Super-
bacilli: new challenge to medicine Maria Montessori: vision of
mankind transformed The silent music of the earth Pantheon of
Greek gods The day the river spoke Stories in stamps.
May
GALILEO & SHAKESPEARE ANNIVERSARIES. World side
story: a special inquiry on teen-agers today Shakespeare, year
four hundred The London that was Shakespeare's World
rendez-vous in Stratford Galileo Galilei: A new vision of the
universe The majesty of the cosmos Truth behind the veil of
facts.
June
TEN YEARS TO BUILD A WORLD. World side story: a case of
missing identity Taras Shevchenko: rebel with a cause Delights
of the engraver's art The shore of exile Encounter on a summer
night Man through his art: music The flags are not enough.
July-August
WATER AND LIFE. The international hydrological decade
Water in the World Underground water: a wasted treasure
Sculpture with water The thirstless camel Can we stop the
cancer of river pollution ? Where we stand with water desalting
Rivers of international concord The new Nile Drops in the
hydrologist's bucket May the rains come Peoples of the deltas
The high wall of the low countries Floods I floods 1 1 floods 1 1 1
Hydraulic civilizations.
September
WOMEN IN THE NEW ASIA. The surge to the towns Ceylon :
silent victory Burma: family in transition Thailand: woman's
place in the home Three villages under a microscope Viet Nam :
20 years of change and turmoil World side story : is there a solution
for delinquency?
October
ILLITERACY: CHALLENGE OF OUR CENTURY. Thestruggle
against illiteracy Investment in people The highest school
in the world Art of Ethiopia A safari armed with microscopes
Great men, great events.
November
DISARMAMENT. Arms cost the world $120,000 million a year
Nuclear weapons and world sanity Fall-out hazards: now and
yesterday The sword and the ploughshares Nine tapestries on
man in the atomic age The Pugwash Movement Unesco and
disarmament The economic impact of disarmament Disarmament
and the developing nations The last flower Peaceful uses for
military energy.
December
VICTORY IN NUBIA. Nubia's last secrets A temple moved
on rails How Abu Simbel will be saved Faras: gallery of
169 frescoes The art of removing a fresco Return to the Land
of Kush The scrolls of Kasr Ibrim Desert highway for ships of
the Nile Moving a temple as big as a cathedral Key to a
nation's future: the Aswan High Dam Stamps for Nubia.
Where to obtain Unesco publications
Order from any bookseller, or write direct to
the National Distributor in your country. (See list
below ; names of distributors in countries not
listed will be supplied on request.) Payment is
made in the national currency ; the rates quoted
are for an annual subscription to THE UNESCO
COURIER in any one language.
AFGHANISTAN. Panuzaï, Prest Department. Royal
Aghan Ministry of Education, Kabul. AUSTRALIA.
Tradco Agencies, 109 Swanston Street, G. P. O.
Box 2324 V, Melbourne C. I.
Nations Association of Australia,
(Victoria); United
Victorian Division,
8th Floor. McEwan House, 343 Little Collins St.,
Melbourne C. I. (Victoria). ( -). AUSTRIA.
Verlag Georg Fromme & C\, Spengergasse 39, Vienna V
(Sch. 70.-). BELGIUM. Editions
342, rue Royale, Brussels, 3. NV Standaard-Boekhandel,
Belgiëlei 151. Antwerp. For The Unesco
Courier (140FB) and art slides only; Louis De Lannoy,
11 2. rue du Trône, Brussels S. CCP 3380.00. BURMA.
Burma Translation Society. 361 Prome Road, Ran¬
goon. ( ). CANADA. Queen's Printer,
Ottawa, Ont. (S 3.00). CEYLON. Lake House
Bookshop, 100 Parsons Road, P.O. Box 244. Colombo.
2. ( ). CHINA. World Book Co. Ltd.. 99 Chung¬
king South Rd., Section 1, Taipeh, Taiwan (Formosa).
CYPRUS. Cyprus National Youth Council, P. O. Box 539,
Nicosia. CZECHOSLOVAKIA. S.N.T.L., Spalena 51,
Prague 1 (permanent display); Zahrahnici literatura
Bilkova 4, Prague 1. DENMARK. Ejnar Munksgaard,
Prags Boulevard 47 Copenhagen S ( ).
ETHIOPIA. International Press Agency. P.O. Box 120,
Addis Ababa. FINLAND. Akateeminen Kirjakauppa.
2 Keskuskatu. Helsinki. (Fmk. 9.40). FRANCE.
Librairie de I'Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, Paris-7'. C.C.P.
1 2598-48. (1 0 F.). GERMANY. R. Oldenbourg Verlag.
Rosenheimerstrasse 145, Munich. 8. For the Unesco
Kurier (German ed only) Bahrenfelder-Chaussee 160,
Hamburg-Bahrenfeld, C.C.P. 276650 (DM 10).
GHANA Methodist Book Depot Ltd . Atlantis Hous,
Commercial St., POB 100, Cape Coast. GREAT BRI
TAIN. See United Kingdom. GREECE. Librairie H.
Kauffmann, 28, rue du Stade, Athens. HONG-KONG.
Swindon Book Co., 64, Nathan Road, Kowloon. HUN¬
GARY. Kultura, P. O. Box 1 49. Budapest. 62. ICE¬
LAND. Snaebjorn Jonsson & Co. H.F., Hafnarstraeti 9,
Reykjavik. INDIA. Orient Longmans Ltd. Nicol Road,
Bellard Estate, Bombay 1; 17 Chittaranjan Avenue, Cal¬
cutta 1 3;Gunfoundry Road, Hyberabad, 1; 3 6a, Mount
Road, Madras 2; Kanson House, 1/24 Asaf Ali Road, P.O.
Box 386. New Delhi, 1; Sub-Depot: Oxford Book &
Stationery Co., 17 Park Street, Calcutta 16, Scindia
House, New Delhi, Indian National Commission Co-ope¬
ration with Unesco, Ministry of Education, for New
Delhi 3. (Rs. 7). INDONESIA. P. N. Fadjar Bhakti
Djalan, Nusantara 22, Djakarta. IRAQ. Mackenzie's
Bookshop, Baghdad. IRELAND. The National Press,
2. Wellington Road. Ballsbridge, Dublin. (15/5).
ISRAEL. Blumstein's Bookstores 35, Allenby Road
and 48, Nahlat Benjamin Street, Tel-Aviv (1 £ 5.50).
JAMAICA. Sangster's Book Room, 91 Harbour
Street, Kingston. (15/-). JAPAN. Maruzen Co. Ltd.,
6 Tori-Nichome, Nihonbashi, P.O. Box 605 Tokyo
Central, Tokyo. ( ). JORDAN. Joseph L. Bahous
& Co., Dar ul-Kutub, Salt Road. P.O.B. 66, Amman.
KENYA. E.S.A. Bookshop. P.O. Box 30167, Nairobi.
KOREA. Korean National Commission for Unesco, P.O.
Box Central 64, Seoul. LIBERIA. Cole and Yancy
Bookshops Ltd., P.O. Box 286, Monrovia. LUX¬
EMBURG. Librairie Paul Brück, 22, Grand-Rue, Luxem¬
burg. MALAYSIA. Federal Publications Ltd., Times
House, River Valley Rd., Singapore ( ). MALTA.
Sapienza's Library 26 Kingsway, Valletta. (1 5/-). MAU¬
RITIUS. Nalanda Company Ltd., 30,Bourbon Street,
Port-Louis (1 0/-). MONACO. British Library, 30 Bid
des Moulins, Monte-Carlo. (F. 1 0). NETHERLANDS.
N. V. Martinus Nijhoff, Lange Voorhout, 9, The Hague,
(fl. 8.50). NETHERLANDS WEST INDIES. G. C.T.
Van Dorp & Co. (Ned Ant.) N.V.. Willemstad, Curaçao.
N.A. (NA fl 4,50). NEW ZEALAND. Government
Printing Office 20, Molesworth Street (Private Bag) Wellingston,
C. 1 Government Bookshops; Auckland (P.O.
Box 5344), Christchurch (P.O. Box 1721), Dunedin P.O.
Box 1104) (15/-). NIGERIA. C.M.S. Bookshops. P.O.
Box 174, Lagos (10/-). NORWAY. A.S. Bokhjornet,
Lille Grense 7, Oslo. For the Unesco Courier only: A.S-
Narvesens Litteratur Tjeneste, Stortingsgt. 2 Oslo, Post¬
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hing Co. Ltd., Unesco Publications House, P.O. Box 374
56-N Gulberg Industrial Colony, Lahore. PHILIPINES.
The Modern Book Co., 508 Rizal Avenue Manila.
POLAND. "RUCH", ul. Wronia, 23, Warsaw 10
( ). PORTUGAL. Dias & Andrade Lda, Livraria
Portugal, Rua do Carmo 70, Lisbon. PUERTO RICO.
Spanish English Publications, Eleanor Roosevelt 115,
Apartado 1912, Hato Rey. RHODESIA & NYA¬
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Southern Rhodesia. «-SUDAN. AI Bashir Bookshop,
P. O. Box 1118, Khartoum. SWEDEN. A/B C.E.
Fritzes Kungl. Hovbokhandel, Fredsgatan 2, Stockholm 1 6,
For the Unesco Courier: Svenska Unescoradet, Vasa-
gatan 15-17, Stockholm, C (Kr. 12); SWITZERLAND.
Europa Verlag, 5 Rämistrasse Zurich. Payot, 40, rue du
Marché, Geneva C.C.P. 1-236. "Courier" only: Georges
Losmaz, 1, rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, Geneva. C.C.P.
1-4811. (Fr. S. 10). Dar-es-Salaam
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Suksapan Panit, Mansion 9, Rajdamnern Avenue. Bangkok.
(35 ticals). TURKEY. Librairie Hachette, 469 Istiklal
Caddesi, Beyoglu, Istanbul. UGANDA. Uganda Book¬
shop, P.O. Box 145, Kampala. UNION OF SOUTH
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Street, P.O. Box 724 Pretoria. For the Unesco Courier
(single copies) only: Central News Agency P.O. Box 1 033,
Johannesbourg. (RL.50). - UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC
(EGYPT). Librairie Kasr El Nil, 38, rue Kasr El Nil
Cairo. Sub/agent: La Renaissance d'Egypte, 9 Sh. Adly-
Pasha, Cairo. UNITED KINGDOM. H.M. Stationery
Office, P.O. Box 569, London, S.E.I, and Government
Bookshops in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Man¬
chester, Birmingham and Bristol. (15/-). UNITED
STATES. Unesco Publications Center, 317 East 34th St,
New York, N.Y. 1 001 6 ($ 5.00) and (except periodicals):
Columbia University Press, 2960 Broadway, New York,
27, N.Y. U.S.S.R. Mezhdunarodnaja Kniga, Moscow.
G-200. YUGOSLAVIA. Yugoslovenska Knjig.
Tzrazije 27, Belgrade.

Abu Simbel, almost unknown
to the world a few years ago,
has been visited by thousands
of people since the Nubian
monuments' campaign began.
Here, Nubian women examine
a frieze depicting prisoners
of three thousand years ago
whose capture by Rameses II
was recorded in stone at the
portals of his Great Temple.
Rex Keating

.AYER CAKE
OF FRESCOES
AT FARAS "¿f
(see caption p