Conservation

Jebel Barkal’s ancient monuments are built from mudbrick and a soft, local sandstone. Their long term preservation is threatened by rain, floodwater, and wind, as well as by damage caused by humans, like tourist convoys that drive onto the site and the expansion of nearby urban and agricultural areas.

Our current conservation program includes overall site preservation, conservation of specific monuments, and collaborative community education and professional training efforts.

Temple of Amun, seen from the Jebel. Photo: Gregory Tucker.

To improve overall site preservation, we are completing installation of bollards to prevent vehicle traffic. We’re also working on methods to manage foot traffic from tourists and talking with stakeholders about how to preserve a buffer zone around the site, to protect it from increasing expansion of the nearby city and farmland. Integrating the site preservation efforts of multiple international teams and local stakeholders is a major focus of our project.

To preserve the site’s spectacular monuments, we’re focusing initial architectural conservation on the area around the Amun temple, including two smaller temples located nearby at the base of the Jebel. This area has suffered damage from rock fall in the past and it can also receive heavy flooding when rainwater (from rare but dramatic rainstorms) drains off the cliff face. Along with work to manage floodwater, we’re considering options for windbreaks, testing architectural conservation strategies, and improving signage for visitors.

Our conservation team is led by Suzanne Davis (University of Michigan) and Mustafa Elsharif (NCAM) and includes Sami Elamin (NCAM), project architects Ignacio Forcadell and Nadejda Reshetnikova, and preservation architect and planner Kelly Wong.

Left to right: Kelly Wong, Suzanne Davis, and Sami Elamin test conservation mortars. Photo: Caitlin Clerkin.
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