Kerma-Dukki Gel: A century of archaeological research

It is a great pleasure and honor to see you all tonight. Thank you for coming for the second lecture of the Nubian Month series. And tonight's lecture will focus on the presentation of the site and latest excavation results at Skerma Dukigal, a century of archeological research in northern Sudan and new opportunities for collaboration to protect heritage. This lecture is part of a series of the Isaac Nubian Month, accompanying the special exhibition, A Bestiary of Ancient Nubia, that will run until August 2026. The site of Skerma, initially excavated by the archeologist George Reissner and later by Charles Bonnet and the Swiss-French-Sudanese Skerma Dukigal mission, was the capital of the kingdom of Kush, the first kingdom of Nubia. This presentation will provide an opportunity to revisit its history and the main discoveries made at this site, which was occupied for over three millennia. Located at the crossroads of important trade routes connecting sub-Saharan Africa to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean sphere, the city of Skerma lay at the heart of a vast territory whose resources were constantly coveted. Successively, the capital of Kush at the Skerma period, an Egyptian colony during the new kingdom, original religious center under the 25th dynasty, the Neapolitan and Meroitic kings, Skerma and Dukigal are among the most important archeological sites in Sudan. The work carried out at these sites by a multidisciplinary team provides a remarkable example of archeological cooperation with Sudan. Since the outbreak of the conflict in April, 2023, researchers have continued their scientific activities by participating in several research programs, notably developed by the SEVDAS, the French section of the Sudan Antiquities Directorate. These projects aim to protect and showcase this invaluable heritage, which is listed on UNESCO's tentative list. Who could better present it than Severin Marchi, co-director of the mission. Severin is an archeologist at the French National Research Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS. Since 2023, she has been seconded to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, where she heads the French section of the Sudan Antiquities Directorate, or French unit, and she co-directs the Swiss-French Sudanese mission at Skerma Dukigal in Sudan, and is a research associate at the Laboratory of African Archeology and Anthropology, or ARCAN, at the University of Geneva. Severin participates in the work and publications of several archeological missions in Egypt, including those at Wadi el-Jarf, Taposiris Plantin, Tell el-Er, and Shabaka's treasure at Karnak, while continuing to publish the ancient excavations of the Gismarba site in Sudan. Its main research focuses on urban archeology, domestic and military architecture, as well as a study of associated archeological artifacts. Severin is one of the scientific leaders of the project Nile's Earth, study and conservation of the earth and architecture of the ancient Nile Valley, funded by the National Research Agency in France, and also collaborates in several research programs on storage and artisanal production techniques in ancient Sudan. Severin has been leading field work on the ground for 30 years, starting with the archeological mission of Gismarba on Kerma settlements in Sudan in 1998, or the West Kordofan survey at Zonkor and Abu Sofyan in 2002. She's also an expert in settlement archeology in Egypt, and she authored or co-authored eight monographs and more than 30 articles. Her editorial work is outstanding, such as the publication, Un Palaire Oriental à Migdol Tel-Eler at Sorbonne University Press in 2017, or the review Nehet, second volume particularly in 2014, on the Tower Houses in Late Antiquity in Egypt. It is an honor and a pleasure to welcome Severin at ISAC for the Nubian Month lecture series, as she succeeded me at the head of the French Archeological Unit in Sudan at a very demanding time. In charge of cooperating with the Sudanese Department of Antiquities and its activities, the unit took part in the rescue operations of the Nubian campaign, which preceded the building of the Aswan Dam Reservoir. Since then, the unit was also involved in the systematic inventory of the sites of the Nile Valley south of the Lake Nasser. It has also conducted several planned excavations, namely on the sites of Misiminya, Kadada, Kadruka, and El Hoboji. Until the conflict outbreak in April 23, the unit was located on the premises of the Sudan National Museum at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museum Offices, adjoining the National Museum in Khartoum. Now temporarily based in Cairo, the French unit is one of the 27 research institutions funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CNRS. Together with the Corporation and Cultural Service at the French Embassy, it plays a pivotal role in the French scientific and university cooperation in the country since 1969. As such, the French unit is integrated into the Department of Antiquities of Sudan as a long-term partner. The French unit was also very active in the fourth cataract region, particularly on survey archeology related to the construction of the dam alongside Isaac's own survey. The regions of Multaga, Wadi Mukaddam, and Mukabrab were the particular focus of these operations. Even though field operations are currently suspended, the French unit leads and supports multiple excavation programs in the country, such as Helasa, Sendinga, Sai Allen, Karamadoukigal, or Domboya. Tonight's lecture will be an unparalleled opportunity to deep dive into the latest results of the Swiss-French-Sudanese Karamadoukigal mission as a case study, and a model for international cooperation on cultural heritage, and to explore the activities of the French unit in these uncertain times for Sudanese heritage. Severin is supporting or leading two major projects on cultural heritage protection of Sudanese heritage currently, i.e. the Sudan National Museum Virtual Collections under the leadership of Yarlas Abdel Latif and Faysa Drissi in cooperation with the Louvre Museum and the Ministry of Culture in France, which opening has been presented at the last ESOR conference in Boston last November, and the EMAP project, or Innovative Monitoring for Archeological Heritage Protection in Sudan project, to protect sites that are at risk now in Sudan. Since the beginning of the war in 2023, the French unit has launched the EMAP project, which aims to develop a powerful tool for remote site monitoring using Earth Observation System, EOS, coupled with an online GIS, or Web SEG, and spatial analysis data for the identification, cartography, and modeling of risk exposures. A geospatial monitoring system combining artificial intelligence, archaeological, geographic, and mutual spectral remote sensing data will be developed to detect looting activities in near real time. This system will enable the automated and predictive identification of the site's risk exposure, providing an innovative solution for the protection of Sudan's cultural heritage. One of the most important modules of said project is the training of our Sudanese colleagues to the QGIS software, allowing long-term data consolidation and site monitoring. As shown by these various examples, we can measure the importance of SEVRIN's dedication and passion for Sudanese heritage. Indeed, archaeology in Sudan has concentrated one of the largest numbers of archaeological missions for almost a decade, and has now acquired the recognition it deserves. Having worked on almost all the French missions, SEVRIN managed multiple sites all along the Nile Valley with multidisciplinary teams, Egyptologists, restorers, archaeologists, archaeobotanists, geomorphologists, curators, and physicists. This approach allowed her to perform on-site restoration, training of students and colleagues, supervision of PhDs and MA students directly on the ground on brand new data published for the benefit of the entire scientific community. SEVRIN has constantly developed a modern approach in line with fundamental research. She promoted Nubian studies for decades and now leads an institution at the cornerstone of cultural heritage protection and dissemination. As her presence demonstrates here tonight, and despite a very full plate, SEVRIN never conceived her work to be only devoted to research programs, but also to induce scholars to go beyond their own expertise and enforce a real policy aimed at presenting Sudanese heritage beyond its actual borders. She has always been an acute advocate for the reconciliation of heritage preservation with modern needs, in effect mobilizing scholarship, heritage management, and museum studies to foster a feeling of shared memory across borders, and so in the hardest of times. Please join me in welcoming SEVRIN to the stage. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's a real pleasure to be with you this evening in this beautiful institution. Thank you very much. Let me take a moment to express my sincere thanks to Mark. Thank you very much. Director and chief curator at the Isaac Museum, and of course to the team here at the Chicago University for the kind invitation and warm welcome. Crossing the Atlantic to speak about Sudanese archeology is a privilege, so I would like to invite you on a journey, si ça fonctionne, a journey to a land that preserves some of the richest archeological landscape in Africa. Through this presentation, I hope to introduce you to the extraordinary monuments and history of Kerma, one of the earliest Roman kingdoms in Africa. Through this presentation, yes, and at the same time, I would like to highlight the ongoing efforts of Sudanese archeologists and international institutions working together to protect Sudan's cultural heritage since the beginning of the severe crisis that has affected the country since 2023. First, let's step back for a moment and set the stage to understand why the kingdom of Kerma occupies such an important place in global history. Let's start at the beginning of the 19th century. The site of Kerma was known as early as 1820, when travelers such as Frederick Cayot and Louis-Maurice Adolphe Linan de Belfont journeyed through the region. They described two massive mud brick monuments known locally as defufa, a Nubian term meaning a structure visible from afar. A few decades later, in 1844, Carl Richard Lepsius provided the first detailed archeological description of the site. As Mark said, in 97, George Andrew Reisner was conducted surveys in Lower Nubia in connection with raising the Aswan Dam. He then decided to continue his research further south through Upper Nubia, and he began excavation in Kerma in 1913. There, he discovered the distinctive culture and named it after the nearby modern city, the Kerma culture. He spent just three years in Kerma. He conducted excavation on two sites at the same time, around the western defufa, that for him was the fortified residence of an Egyptian governor. You have the nice defufa on that slide. And also in the eastern necropolis, Working with hundreds of local Sudanese workers, he uncovered an important number of burials, including the Great Royal Tumuli. In line with his interpretation, he identified these monuments as the tombs of Egyptian governors, who he believed controlled the trade in precious goods arriving from the south for the benefit of Egypt. While some tombs from the middle Kerma period were documented, the main focus of his excavations was the burials of the classical Kerma period. These massive circular funerary mounds are among the most impressive structures at the site, the largest reaching 19 meters in diameter. These royal tombs are characterized by a central burial chamber connected to a large corridor flanked by perpendicular walls, all constructed in mud brick. The structure is then filled with earth and sand to form a monumental mound. One of their most striking features is the presence of hundreds of individuals buried alongside the ruler, as illustrated by the corridor of the tomb K10, shown here on the right. The huge work carried out by George Reisner and his team led to a two-volume publication. Together with the artifacts that were exported at that time and are now displayed in museums, many of them here in North America, this publication remains a fundamental source of information for scholars today. However, at that time, Reisner did not fully recognize the true significance of his discoveries. Influenced by the dominant scholarly framework of the early 19th, sorry, 20th century, he interpreted Kerma as an Egyptian colonial outpost. Reisner's hypothesis was challenged early on, notably by the German archaeologist Hermann Junker. Later, scholars such as Tony Sever-Soderberg, Anthony Arkell, or Fritz Inz provided decisive evidence, demonstrated that Kerma was, in fact, the capital of a powerful and independent kingdom. Subsequent research further confirmed this new understanding of Kerma. Excavation conducted by Jean Vercoutter and Brigitte Gracien at the necropolis of Sai, together with the long-term work done by Charles Bonnet at Kerma, played a decisive role in refining the chronology of the capital of the kingdom of Cush and its surrounding region. At its apogee, just before the Egyptian colonization around 1,500 B.C., excuse me, Kerma was a vast capital extending over several hectares east of the Nile. The city was organized around two main poles, Kerma itself and Dukigal, a ceremonial center located one kilometer to the north. Today, it's widely accepted that these two sites were not separate entities, but part of a single integrated urban system already in place during the Middle Kerma period. To the east lies the eastern necropolis covering around 1,016 hectares and located about five kilometers from the urban core. It contains between 30,000 and 40,000 tombs, including the monumental burial structure excavated by Reissner. Beyond these major components, emergency excavations in the modern town of Kerma have revealed several additional elements that help us to reconstruct the long-term evolution of the capital. A port, locally named Beit Sheitan, near the Nile, the house of the devil, a 20-meter-wide royal tomb attributed to one of the last Kerma kings discovered far from the main necropolis in the south of the urban core, cemeteries from the New Kingdom and Meroitic periods, and a settlement dating to the Napatan period. This slide presents the timeline summarizing the successive occupations. They cover more than three millennia of continuous human activity. What this sequence reveals is the remarkable diversity of archaeological evidence uncovered at the site, from the modest wooden construction of the earliest occupation to highly specialized metalworking and faience workshops that emerged during the Kerma period and remained active into the Meroitic times. Located 30 kilometers south of the First Cataract, Kerma stood at crossroads of trading routes connecting the Egyptian world and the Mediterranean to the sub-Saharan region, central and southern Africa. The Nile, of course, was the principal way of communication and trade, but the kingdom also had control over the land routes connected in the Nile Valley to eastern and western Sudan. To the west, at least two major routes led toward Kordofan and Darfur, the Wadi Hawar and the Wadi al-Malik. These corridors likely connected Kerma to region as far as Chad and West Africa, integrating the kingdom into a vast trans-regional exchange system. Surveys conducted in northern Kordofan by a team from the University of Lille indicate that the Wadi al-Malik region has been occupied since the Paleolithic times. The discovery of some architectural elements in Kerma and in Dukigal, you will see after, seems to suggest that very close contact between Kerma and the population outside the Nile Valley, and probably to the western part of the country. In Kerma region, archaeological evidence shows that the kingdom's development was closely tied to its very rich interland and the exploitation of extensive alluvial lands along the Nile. Surveys and excavations in the Kadruka and Kawa districts have revealed numerous rural settlements established along paleo channels. These communities form essential components of a very organized system designed to supply the capital with food and raw materials. Agricultural production was carefully managed and food was stored in elevated granaries, as you can see here on this slide from Kadruka, Gizm Arba, whose stone foundations have been discovered in large numbers across the region. Comparative studies of architecture and material culture therefore provide important insights into the dynamic relationship between the capital and its surrounding territories. At the same time, Kerma controlled the circulation and redistribution of valuable resources, including the gold, highly sought after by Egypt. It seems that a network of desert settlements linked the capital to gold mining regions in the Northeast. A such fortified site located about 17 kilometers east of Kerma is currently under excavation by a team from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. You can see the plan on the right. The city of Kerma itself prospered between 2500 BC and the Egyptian colonization, led by the pharaoh Thutmose I. However, the origins of the city can be traced back to the pre-Kerma settlement located within what is now the Eastern Necropolis. The remains reveal an original architectural tradition. The site includes circular wooden dwellings, livestock enclosures, and storage pits. All of these were already protected by a sophisticated defensive system. On this plan, the yellow lines in the north, this system anticipating features later seen in the cities of Kerma and Dukigal. Palisades and buttresses reinforced with wooden poles and compact earth are arranged in semicircular layouts or in parallel defensive lines, creating controlled and protected living spaces. The presence of this enclosure system, together with a small number of rectangular buildings, suggests that forms of urban planning were already emerging at an early stage, very early stage. The settlement was later relocated farther west, probably in response to a shift of the Nile's course. This relocation marks an important step in the long urban development of the city. From the early Kerma period onward, the city developed around the large mud brick monument, as you have seen before. What you see here is how this building appeared during the classical Kerma period. Although Reisner originally interpreted it as an Egyptian palace, we now understand that it was, in fact, the city's main temple, with religious annexes to the east and to the west. Today, the famous Defufa still rises nearly 20 meters above the plain. In contrast, most of the surrounding city has suffered erosion, and domestic structures are often preserved only a few centimeters high. To better understand the evolution of the urban landscape up to the destruction of the city at the end of the classical Kerma period, extensive excavations were conducted across the site by Charles Bonnet. These investigations revealed more than 250 houses distributed across several neighborhoods, connected by streets, and organized around the city's main entrance access points, sorry, main access points. The city's defenses consist of various complementary elements. Deep moats from time to time filled with fluid water from the Nile, a system of mud brick and cob bastions and towers, and massive stone constructions built from ferruginous sandstone blocks quarried in the region of the Third Cataract. The entrance gates to the different quarters are usually very narrow, sometimes less than a meter wide. This was clearly designed to control access very strictly. Only people and working animals were allowed to enter in certain areas. The capital also included administrative buildings and places of worship, such as this one, a round chapel paved with mud bricks covered by a red painted plaster. We also find buildings likely intended for communal use, such as this circular wooden and adobe structure, possibly functioning as an audience hall. It was rebuilt several times over its lifetime, suggested a sustained role within the community. The houses show classical architecture and construction techniques commonly found elsewhere in Nubia. The dwellings, built with thin adobe walls, have a rectangular plan. The roofs were made of wood, mud, and straw. An analysis of the architectural structures and their features, combined with a study of the ceramic material and other artifacts recovered within and around the dwellings, has made it possible to propose functional interpretations and identify specific activities. This, in turn, offers valuable insight into everyday life in the capital. For example, pottery production or textile production, as you can see with these tools for textile production, or in the same house, we found a workshop for ostrich egg shell beads and containers. The reputation of Kerma's highly skilled artisans, as well as his status as a trade hub and source of raw materials, made it a target. This was why its Egyptian neighbor continually sought to conquer the kingdom of Kerma. Thutmose I succeeded in that task. He destroyed the city, set fire to the defufa, and partially destroyed the surrounding villages, which had been a source of wealth for the kingdom. He established his menenu in the northern part of the city, on the site now known as Dukigal. Excavations of the seven hectare site have produced a range of archaeological remains dating from the middle Kerma to the Meroitic period. During the Kerma period, this part of the city was heavily protected in order to withstand the Egyptian pharaoh's advances. You can see on this slide the different occupation levels and the huge system of fortification of the northern front. A sondage was conducted at a location where a fortification line had developed over time. It revealed 12 distinct occupation levels and several types of defenses, that's until four meter deep. This included semicircular bastions, solid towers, and massive masonry structures, which alternate with occupation level characterized by wooden dwellings. For example, the level eight, visible here on the right, revealed the remains of a massive sugar loaf-shaped bastion. The structure is estimated to be about 13 meters wide and at least 11 and a half meters long. In the northwest corner, a second masonry section about two meter thick may indicate a later expansion, bringing the total width of the bastion to nearly 20 meters. No structure of this kind had previously been identified at either Kerma or Dukigal. The few ceramic fragments recovered from these levels date to the middle Kerma period, as you can see on the part of the slide. The defensive feature points to the, this defensive feature points to the existence of a substantial enclosure wall, probably marking the northern front of the city. Interestingly, the only comparable examples come from the middle kingdom fortress of Khor at the second cataract, where several sugar loaf-shaped bastions, each about five meters wide, form part of the defensive system. The architectural features I have just described represent only a small part of what makes Dukigal so original. What we are looking at here is an architectural tradition that has no true equivalent in neighboring Egypt. This schematic plan shows the city during the Kerma period, and it fundamentally changed how we understand urbanism in ancient Nubia. Just before Egyptian colonization, the city consisted of a dense urban core enclosed within a defensive wall, three to four meters thick. Access was controlled through several gates, each marked by massive circular towers, as you can see up on the right, some reaching up to 12 meters in diameter. One of these towers survives today to a height of more than one and a half meters, which is important for Kerma site and Dukigal site. Inside the enclosure, two wells were dug and remained in use throughout the entire occupation of the site, continuing even into the Meroitic period, a remarkable sign of long-term urban continuity. At first glance, the center of the city may appear almost empty, but this impression is misleading. Later, Egyptian temples were built directly over earlier structure, effectively erasing much of the Kerma period occupation. Beyond the enclosure, large oval buildings, generally interpreted as palaces, dominated the landscape. Their interiors contained hundreds of mud brick column bases supporting vast roofing system, spaces that were probably not only administrative or residential, but also deeply connected to ritual practices. And you have the photo, drawn photo of this, one of this oval shape building. The architecture of the new settlement was not purely, sorry, I moved to the last one. It's important to note that when Thutmose is the first built, is Meninu, protected by a new system of fortification. He quite literally leveled the main elements of Kerma period architecture. Has this Nubian tower erased and covered by a new tower, more impressive. Only few areas were spared, including the Nubian religious quarter, where sacred buildings continue to be rebuilt and maintained over time. The architecture of the new settlement was not purely Egyptian. Instead, Egyptian builders adapted local Nubian construction techniques to their own architectural needs. Elements such as brick and mud columns, a tradition still in use during the last century, reveal the continued presence and essential role of a skilled Nubian workforce. As the time is running out, I hope it's okay. I would like to turn briefly to the current situation of the site since the outbreak of the conflict in 2023. Although Kerma itself has not been directly impacted by the fighting, the site now faces new challenges linked to rapid population growth in the region, largely driven by forced displacement. Climate change is also becoming a major concern. Episodes of intense and destructive rainfall are increasing in both frequency and intensity. Local communities are the first to suffer. Many mud bricks houses collapsed during floods. But these extreme weather events also pose serious threats to the archeological remains. Water accumulates at the base of the ancient walls, weakening their foundation. Existing cracks widen, and the enclosure walls that once protected the site began to collapse, as you can see on these photos. Once these protective barriers disappear, people, animal, and even cars can move freely across the archeological areas. At the same time, vegetation take advantage of the increasing moisture. Roots penetrate the soils and progressively damage the archeological layers. Another consequence of the torrential rains and the accumulation of stagnant water is the rapid proliferation of mosquitoes. Malaria cases have risen significantly among local communities. Here you can see, if you remember, the tomb of the last king of Kerma, completely full of water in 2024. These health risks now intersect with environmental pressures and archeological threats, creating an increasingly fragile situation, both for the populations living around the sites and for those working to protect their heritage. Under these difficult conditions and in the absence of regular maintenance, only limited emergency interventions can be carried out by the local teams who remain on the site. Their work focuses on essential actions, repairing enclosure walls to keep the animals out, removing vegetation, and digging drainage channels to evacuate stagnant water. These efforts may appear modest, but they are crucial. They slow the process of deterioration and help safeguard the site until more sustained work becomes possible. Although we currently do not have direct access to the site, research continues in close collaboration with our Sudanese partners and colleagues. Our goal is to develop conservation and public awareness initiatives that involve not only the Kerma team, but the broader Sudanese archeological community. The idea is to prepare for the future to ensure that when conditions finally allow a return to Sudan, researchers, specialists, and heritage professionals will be ready to resume their work. A concrete example is the IMAPS in Sudan project, so Innovative Monitoring Approaches for Heritage Protection. Because the access to the field is very difficult or even impossible, we are developing a system of remote monitoring using GIS and high-resolution satellite imagery laid jointly by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums and the French Archeological Unit in Sudan. The project enables us to follow changes at archeological sites in near real time, identifying risk of looting and assessing the impact of environmental events or population movements linked to the ongoing conflict. Our goal is simple, to provide Sudanese heritage authorities with a practical operational monitoring tool. The approach relies on three complementary components. In its initial phase and as a pilot project, the program focuses on sites excavated by French missions in three main regions, Kerma, Merue, and northern Kordofan. The objective is to centralize archival data from past archeological work while integrating new documentation collected in the field by colleagues who have remained on site. The project staff are currently completing standardised recording forms building on those developed for the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums National Archeological Database. At the same time, a mobile and tablet application is being developed using Q-Field, allowing teams to enter GIS data directly in real time. In the second phase, earth observation system and advanced spatial analysis techniques are employed to model and map the geographical risk impacting archeological sites. A morphospectral identification method is applied using high-resolution playad imagery enhanced by pan-sharpening and spectral transformations. The aim is to monitor activities directly linked to war and economic instability, such as bombing, occupation of sites by armed forces, illegal gold mining, looting and climate change, as well as collateral damage to populations, including excessive visitor pressure, lack of surveillance and agricultural pressure. This component enables the monitoring of site conditions in near real time and the detection of changes. Finally, all this work is coming together on an online platform, a web-based GIS, which enables dynamic visualization and efficient data sharing among researchers, institutions and field professionals. In terms of collection management and combating the illicit trafficking of cultural properties, there are ongoing efforts to promote Sudanese collections. As you can see, the National Museum has been significantly damaged and looted. Meanwhile, the teams on the ground, with the financial and logistical support of the international community, are cleaning up, securing the site and taking inventory of both stolen and un-stolen items. And we have to pay really, it's very important to focus on the work that they are doing now in this very, very difficult condition in Khartoum. And you have here the responsible of the community, of the committee working in the museum. And it was, I really want to put this photo because she's working very hard to complete the inventory and to clean the museum. In this condition, it soon became important to launch a virtual museum project to showcase the richness of Sudan's archaeological collections to the world. This virtual museum was created through an international partnership established by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums Department. The design of the exhibition, including the display spaces and educational materials, was carried out by teams from the French Archaeological Unit and the Louvre Museum. The 3D modelling was created by the designers of Art Graphique et Patrimoine, who based their work on the museum's original plans and the Louvre's graphic design and education department's work. The labels for the digital display were also produced through a collaborative effort. The Antiquities Service produced the original list of objects to be exhibited at the Khartoum Museum. The museum's curators wrote the labels for more than 1,000 objects and all the educational material, which were then translated into three languages, French, English, and Arabic. The virtual museum can be accessed via a portal. It can be... The name is Grands Sites Archéologiques Collection from the Ministry of Culture in France. This digital portal offers permanent access to one of the most significant museum collections of the African continent for the first time. At a time when these archaeological and archival collections are under threat, the virtual museum is a vital tool for the authorities combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property. The project also addresses serious concerns within the international scientific community regarding the physical integrity of these artefacts. For the... Yes, we also... I put these two circles, red circles. It's also... This museum is also the possibility to know exactly what is missing and for the future, maybe, to be completed by other documents coming from the researcher working or archives of the researchers. So, if you go on the site, you can have a look of what is missing and it's open to the community to help the virtual museum with photos and documentation. For the Kerma Museum, a project to produce a trilingual catalogue, also in French, English and Arabic, is also underway, thanks to funding from the Alif Foundation. It will provide easier access to the collection from the Swiss-French-Sudanese excavations. Another project concerns both the National Museum of Sudan and the Kerma Museum. It focuses on the creation of the preparedness centre in Khartoum and Kerma, led by the NCAM, with a strong and dedicated team. The goal is to provide these centres with the facilities and resources needed for the emergency protection of cultural heritage, including equipment for documentation and conservation. The project also includes trainings on emergency procedures, conservation techniques and museum security for the National Corporation and Antiquities Museum staff on the field. These initiatives will make it possible to set up a new exhibition showcasing the recovered and restored artefacts, in the future, of course. The international archaeological and heritage community, including research institutions, continues to stand firmly alongside Sudanese colleagues, who work with determination to safeguard and promote their cultural heritage. Even when conducted discreetly, all kinds of support can have a profound impact. Sending a message by WhatsApp to a sideguard to check if everything is OK, if the family is safe. For example, scanning or sharing a book unavailable in Sudan are simple acts that the entire community can do. Taken together, these actions form a vital network of solidarity. They remind our colleagues that they are not alone and that Sudanese heritage must not become a forgotten one. So, please, continue to keep your eyes on Sudan and thank you very much. Thank you for your attention.