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Extensive Damage to the Sudan National Museum

Fears about the looting of the Sudan National Museum were first raised in the early months of the civil war in Sudan. Now, two years later, the devastating news has been confirmed. 

The Sudanese army recently recaptured the capital city of Khartoum, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had been using the national museum as a military base. New videos show the aftermath of widespread looting, including broken and missing artifacts—both those on display and those in storage—and a heavily damaged building. 

The Sudan National Museum was home to approximately 100,000 artifacts spanning millennia of Sudanese, African, and world history. Media outlets, including the Sudan Tribune, the Guardian, and others, have detailed the extent of the destruction and the responses from Sudanese officials and citizens. You can also read more on the Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project blog.

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Events Roundup

We hope you can join us for one or more of these upcoming events offered by the Kelsey Museum.

Thursday, September 30 | 6:00 PM | Hybrid FAST Lecture | “The Archaeology of Western Anatolia, ca. 1200–133 BCE,” by Christopher Ratté

Our speaker for this hybrid in-person and live-streamed FAST event is IPCAA core faculty member Dr. Chris Ratté, whose lecture is entitled “The Archaeology of Western Anatolia, ca. 1200–133 BCE.” His research focuses on the role played by the built environment, from individual monuments to regional settlement patterns, in the articulation of social and cultural identity, especially in regions on the peripheries of the Greek and Roman worlds.

Physical Attendance Location: Classics Library (2175 Angell Hall)
Virtual Attendance Location: Zoom Meeting ID: 977 7669 0432, Passcode: 747615

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Friday, October 1 | Noon | Flash Talk |“Once Upon a Time, There Was a River: The Environmental History of the Tiber Valley before Rome, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age,” by Laura Motta

Due to a bad internet connection, this Flash Talk could not take place in July as originally scheduled. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you can join us on October 1 for a do-over!

It is entrenched in much of the historical and archaeological literature that the success of Rome was due to its favorable location along the major river in peninsular Italy. Is this assumption true? Indeed, we know little about the natural settings of the Tiber before it was encroached upon and urbanized during the late Republic and Imperial periods, creating an “eternal” image of the landscape. Recent investigations have instead revealed important changes in the local vegetation and a very dynamic fluvial environment, possibly affected by tectonic episodes, between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago.

Kelsey Museum Flash Talks are 15-minute Zoom lectures by Kelsey curators, staff members, researchers, and graduate students talking about their recent research or current projects. Each presentation is followed by 15 minutes of Q&A. Flash Talks are free and open to all visitors. They take place at noon on the first Friday of every month.

Join us via Zoom at:
https://umich.zoom.us/j/96551052011
Meeting ID: 965 5105 2011
Passcode: Kelsey

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Saturday, October 18 | 2:00 PM | Virtual Saturday Sampler Tour | What Is Archaeology? (Family Event)

Celebrate International Archaeology Day with the Kelsey Museum as we explore the question, What is archaeology? Have you ever wondered how archaeologists reconstruct the past just by looking at the artifacts they find? Join us for this family-friendly virtual tour to learn about the archaeology of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome!

Join us via Zoom!

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New Kelsey Blog: The Social Lives of Coins

The Kelsey’s new assistant curator of numismatics, Irene Soto Marín, has launched a weekly blog called The Social Lives of Coins: Archaeology and Numismatics at the Kelsey. In it, she will highlight interesting discoveries she makes as she studies the 40,000+ coins in the Kelsey’s collection. Join Irene on an exciting journey into history as she explores the ancient world through the Kelsey’s one-of-a-kind numismatic collection. And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

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empty museum gallery

News from the Conservation Lab — August 2019

By Suzanne Davis, Curator of Conservation and Co-Curator of Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile: El-Kurru, Sudan

Friends, we’ve got big news at the Kelsey — a large portion of the river Nile has come to our special exhibition gallery. It’s been re-created by our amazing exhibition team, Scott Meier and Eric Campbell, as have a bunch of life-size columns modeled after those found in the El-Kurru funerary temple. It’s all happening as we finish the final touches on our next special exhibiton, Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile, just in time for the opening on August 23.

empty museum gallery
View of the Kelsey’s special exhibition gallery as installation of Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile progresses. Note the Nile meandering through the right foreground.

This photo shows the relative calm before the storm, since beautiful photographic panels and all kinds of other stuff — including a representation of the ram-headed Kushite god Amun — are going in soon. Although Amun is associated with the sun and with creation, he seems intense and kind of scary and I’m not sure I would enjoy meeting him in person. That said, I think he’s going to look great in our gallery. If you can’t visit in person, check back on our website soon because the online version of the exhibition, built by web guru Julia Falkovitch-Khain, will go live as the in-gallery version opens.

My exhibition co-curator Geoff and I are also really looking forward to our graffiti symposium, which will be held here at the Kelsey on September 20. Yesterday we met with the symposium respondent, artist Jim Cogswell, for a fascinating preview of his thoughts.

And of course, we hope to see you on September 5 at our kick-off event at the Trotter Multicultural Center, where Geoff and I will give attendees a behind-the-scenes look at the El-Kurru graffiti project.

News from the Conservation Lab — August 2019 Read More »

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