JBAP is kicking off 2026 with momentum! Despite the ongoing war in Sudan, the project continues to expand its work, especially where archaeology, heritage, and community meet.
Where war shifted travel, training builds opportunity
One of JBAP’s important current initiatives is its tour guide training programme, launched by Tohamy Abulgasim, Sami Elamin and Rebecca Bradshaw in late 2025 and continuing into 2026.
Following the outbreak of conflict in 2023, Jebel Barkal experienced an extraordinary rise in Sudanese domestic visitation. As movement and leisure options contracted, the UNESCO World Heritage site became an unexpected haven for safe recreation and cultural connection, welcoming unprecedented numbers of local visitors.
To respond, we designed a training programme to equip Sudanese students with the skills needed to interpret and protect their heritage. The programme blends traditional instruction with field-based practical exercises, covering site history, storytelling techniques, visitor management, and heritage safeguarding. We aimed to empower students to build guiding approaches rooted in local knowledge and lived experience, ensuring Jebel Barkal is interpreted accurately and authentically.
As the programme progresses, JBAP is actively reflecting on what works, what doesn’t, and how heritage training can evolve to better support both visitors and site stewardship in the future.
We are currently seeking further funding to support this exciting and impactful programme. If you are willing and able to contribute, please get in touch with Geoff Emberling, at [email protected].
A season of talks and growing dialogue
Alongside training, JBAP is stepping into 2026 with a series of public talks that bring Sudan’s heritage realities into institutional conversations:
- Jan. 10 – San Francisco, USA: Sami Elamin and Geoff Emberling presented Archaeology, Heritage, and Community during War: The Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project, Sudan at the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) conference session “Heritage In and After Wartime”.
- Jan. 22 – Ann Arbor, USA: A longer version of the same talk will be delivered by Geoff Emberling at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, offering deeper insight into the project’s wartime heritage work.
- Feb. 27 – University of Virginia, USA: A broader talk about ancient Kush will be presented by Geoff Emberling at the conference The World In Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa, situating Sudan’s heritage challenges within a wider regional frame.
2026 has only just begun, but JBAP’s work is already buzzing!
A new digital window on Sudanese heritage
A final exciting development: NCAM (Sudan’s National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums) and SFDAS (the Sudan French Archaeological and Historical Society) have officially launched the “Sudan Virtual Museum,” a dynamic online platform that brings Sudan’s archaeological sites, artifacts, and histories to a global audience. The Sudan Virtual Museum offers immersive access to Sudan’s rich cultural heritage, complementing on-the-groundwork like the JBAP tour guide training programme and expanding opportunities for education and engagement far beyond physical site borders. Explore the new digital museum here: https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/soudan-museum/en.
