Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile: El-Kurru, Sudan

The Curators

Suzanne Davis is an archaeological conservator and the associate curator and head of conservation at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She directs conservation for the International Kurru Archaeological Project and is co-curator of the exhibition.

Geoff Emberling is an archaeologist and museum curator, currently an associate research scientist at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is co-director of the International Kurru Archaeological Project and co-curator of the exhibition.

Read the interview with Geoff Emberling and Suzanne Davis at the Kelsey Museum website.

In the News

• Ugly Object of the Month — September 2019, by Caroline Roberts, The Kelsey Blog
• Temple graffiti reveals stories from ancient Sudan, HeritageDaily
• New ‘Graffiti as Devotion’ exhibit opens at Kelsey, by Emma Ruberg, The Michigan Daily
• Temple graffiti reveals stories from ancient Sudan, by Suzanne Davis and Geoff Emberling, The Conversation
• Scholar symposium highlighting graffiti use in ancient world to be held at Ann Arbor museum, by Sarah M. Parlette, All About Ann Arbor
• News from the Conservation Lab — August 2019, by Suzanne Davis, The Kelsey Blog
• Recently Discovered 'Ancient Graffiti' Explored In New U-M Kelsey Museum Of Archaeology Exhibition, Broadway World
• Recently discovered ‘ancient graffiti’ explored in new U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology exhibition, U-M Arts & Culture
• New Kelsey Museum Publication Hot off the Press, The Kelsey Blog
• ‘Graffiti as Devotion Along the Nile' moves into the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in Ann Arbor, by Sarah M. Parlette, All About Ann Arbor
• News from the Conservation Lab — June 2019, by Suzanne Davis, The Kelsey Blog
• News from the Conservation Lab — Conservation at El-Kurru, Sudan, by Suzanne Davis, The Kelsey Blog

Symposium: Graffiti in Ancient Nubia and Beyond

• Schedule
• Video recording:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3

Acknowledgments

Many colleagues have provided insight and ideas in the study of graffiti at El-Kurru, while many others provided the creative and practical skills to turn the idea for this exhibition into a reality. We would especially like to thank:

• The International Kurru Archaeological Project (IKAP) team, with special thanks to our inspector and colleague in Sudan, Sami Elamin, and to Bruce Williams for his careful study of the pyramid graffiti
• The National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums, Sudan, particularly the Director-General of Antiquities and Museums in Sudan, Dr. Abdelrahman Ali
• The Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project, for generous funding of the fieldwork that led to the discovery of the graffiti
• Staff of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
• Cultural Heritage Imaging for providing free access to their RTI builder and viewer software, and Visual Computing Lab - ISTI - CNR for providing open-source code for their WebRTIViewer
• Julia Falkovitch-Khain, Chris Broussard, Peter Knoop, and Chris Stockbridge for the exhibition website
• The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the University of Michigan Office of Research, the African Heritage and Humanities Initiative of the African Studies Center of the University of Michigan, and Ms. Kathleen Picken for financial support of the exhibition, catalog, and associated events