Book on Soviet Nubian Archaeological Expedition (1961–1963) Presented in Moscow

 The Museum of Anthropology at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) hosted the presentation of the book "On the Threshold of Africa: Materials on the History of the Nubian Archaeological Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1961–1963)", dedicated to the work of Soviet specialists in rescuing ancient monuments in Nubia (southern Egypt and northern Sudan) that were threatened by the rising waters of the artificial Lake Nasser created during the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The event took place on May 28 in Moscow, attended by diplomats from the Sudanese Embassy and supported by the Center for Archaeological Support, a correspondent for African Initiative reports.

According to the book's author and compiler, Candidate of Historical Sciences and Senior Researcher at the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology at MSU Alexei Krol, the book publishes for the first time materials from state and family archives, shedding light on the work and daily life of Soviet archaeologists — participants in the first Soviet archaeological expedition to the Middle East.

The materials include diaries and photographs from the archive of expedition leader Boris Piotrovsky, personal letters from archaeologist Nikolai Merpert, documents related to architect Lev Petrov's project to relocate a Nubian temple from the flood zone, the book "Journey to the Land of Kush" by archaeologist Alexander Vinogradov, as well as photographs and documents from the archives of the Institute for the History of Material Culture (IIMK) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences Archive.

The Soviet expedition worked in Nubia for two seasons — a total of eight months. Within the Soviet concession area, remarkable monuments from various eras were discovered and studied: the archaeological complex of the 4th millennium BCE at Khor-Daoud, an extensive necropolis from the mid-3rd millennium BCE at Khor-Nabruk, and numerous inscriptions left by Egyptian expeditions dispatched along the dry riverbed of Wadi al-Allaqi deep into the Nubian Desert for gold mining.

"Interest in the scientific legacy of the Nubian Expedition is no coincidence. In 2016, the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology established the Nubian Archaeological and Anthropological Expedition, which works in Sudan at the headwaters of Wadi al-Allaqi, 300 km southeast of where Soviet specialists worked over 60 years ago. Therefore, we rightly consider the Nubian Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences as our scientific and spiritual predecessor. The published book is a tribute of respect and gratitude to our compatriots," Krol noted.

The project to study the scientific legacy of the Nubian Expedition began in 2020 with the discovery of Vinogradov's archive preserved in his family: over 20 rolls of film with photographs, diaries, and the manuscript of his unpublished book "Journey to the Land of Kush," written from fresh impressions of the expedition. Following this, the Petrov family archives were discovered, and materials relating to the Nubian Expedition from Merpert's archive were found at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

As the author-compiler explained in a comment to AI, his childhood interest in the Nubian Expedition was sparked by reading Gleb Golubev's "The Secret of the Pyramid of Khiren" — an adventure story about the work of Soviet archaeologists in Nubia. Golubev described the work of a fictional team of Piotrovsky's expedition that accidentally discovered an unlooted tomb of Pharaoh Khiren.

Preserving the Legacy of Nubian Culture

"In the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam construction project, developed in the USSR, was set to permanently flood 300 km of Egyptian Nubia and 150 km of Nubia in the Republic of Sudan. That is why UNESCO appealed to all people of goodwill to unite their efforts to study and save these monuments. The Soviet Union could not stand aside. Our country was allocated an exceptionally promising section of Nubia — 30 km on both sides of the Nile and a 100 km section of Wadi al-Allaqi, the ancient route leading deep into the desert to the gold mines. The expedition brilliantly fulfilled all its assigned tasks," Krol said during the presentation.

Under an agreement with the Egyptian government, most of the finds were brought to the USSR and distributed between the State Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Over the past five years, the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology at MSU has been conducting in-depth studies of these objects using modern scientific advances. Publication of the materials from the Soviet archaeologists' excavations will begin in the near future.