The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Nubia

Nubia lies between the first and fourth cataracts of the Nile, covering an area as large as Sweden. With its distinctive culture and language group, Nubia has always formed an important link between the different parts of North-East Africa.

Betwen 1959 and 1971, near the city of Aswan, a new dam was built to control the flow of the Nile River through Egypt. The Aswan Dam was seen as contributing to Egypt's modernization but there were also negative consequences. Water levels rose behind the dam, flooding parts of the Nubian desert. People who lived there were forced to move and the important archaeological sites in the area were at risk of disappearing underwater.

In order to save Nubia's antiquities and art treasures, UNESCO carried out an international campaign in which several Swedish companies participated. As part of this, Nordic archaeologists investigated the region around Wadi Halfa in northern Sudan. Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden financed a joint expedition under the leadership of Uppsala professor Torgny Säve-Söderbergh. Sudan donated a large part of the findings to the participating countries. The finds that came to Sweden, as well as the expedition's archives, are today managed by Gustavianum.

Many of the objects from the collection will be displayed in the Gustavianum, when the university museum reopens after the ongoing renovation. Parts of the collection are also available to researchers and students at The historical collections at EBC, Center for Evolutionary Biology.