Drone shot of El-Kurru, showing both the archaeological site in the foreground and the village in the background. El-Kurru was the site of the royal pyramid cemetery of the kings and queens of ancient Kush, ca. 850-350 BCE. Image taken by Kate Rose, 2019.

Receiving a summer stipend from ASOR gave me the opportunity to work with Dr. Geoff Emberling on “Living in Nubia,” a community archaeology project centered around the Sudanese village of El-Kurru. Our project focuses on the ways in which we as archaeologists can work collaboratively with community members and Sudan as a whole to present El-Kurru and its heritage to audiences in both Arabic and English.

This work with El-Kurru village takes many forms, including a set of educational materials and worksheets for teachers that were completed earlier this year and will be workshopped in Sudanese schools this fall. Most of the work I did this summer, however, was on exhibit materials for the planned Community Heritage Center in El-Kurru. This heritage center will focus not only on the archaeological work done at El-Kurru, but also on the village’s local heritage and culture. Part of the materials I helped work through this summer were hundreds of photographs taken by El-Kurru residents. During the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons, the archaeological team ran a photo contest for the residents of El-Kurru, in which hundreds of photographs were submitted showcasing all aspects of life in the village. Part of our work this summer involved sorting through these photographs, choosing broader themes and categories for the exhibit, and then meeting virtually with our partners in El-Kurru, particularly our main contacts, Anwar Mahajoub and Sami Elamin, to decide which photos should be on display. These photos will be accompanied by captions written by the local photographers themselves. In addition to work on the heritage center, we also continued working on our plans for a children’s book and a short film about El-Kurru. We made significant progress this summer, and work will continue on all of these projects in the fall.

Two children at a wedding, taken by El-Kurru resident Marwa Mahajoob. One of the winning photos from the 2017 Photo Contest.

This deeply collaborative approach between archaeologists and El-Kurru residents is one of my favorite things about our project. All of the materials we are creating, from the heritage center to the children’s book, are things that the residents of El-Kurru themselves have requested, and we make sure that our local partners are consulted in every decision we make. My work with the “Living in Nubia” project has really shown me that archaeological research can and should be done in collaboration with, not just at the expense of, local communities, and this is something I will carry with me throughout the rest of my academic career.

Anwar Mahajoub (left), one of our main collaborators on the project, and Bakri Abdelmoneim, both from El-Kurru village, during filming of a short video at El-Kurru, 2019.

Shannon Burton is a recent graduate from the Classical Archaeology program at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include women in antiquity, archaeobotany, food production and cultivation practices, and community archaeology. She hopes to continue working with the “Living in Nubia” team, as well as go on her first excavation in Sudan in early 2022.

Project website link: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/nubia/

During the summer of 2021, ASOR supported 27 undergraduate and graduate students through the Summer Stipend Program. These students undertook non-fieldwork archaeological research projects led by ASOR-affiliated project directors. They also took part in monthly cohort group meetings hosted via zoom. Read a summary of these cohort meetings here.

Stay tuned for more updates from the 2021 Summer Stipend recipients!