Sudan Digital

The aim of the project “Sudan Digital”, which started in March 2017 and is financed by the German Federal Foreign Office, is to establish a national heritage registry for the Sudan. Despite numerous excavations and research projects carried out since the 19^th century, the country has no systematic registry for its ancient monuments and archaeological sites. With specific training programs and technical and scientific assistance on-site in Khartoum, the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) supports the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) in the development of a database adapted to local needs.

In preparation of this project, a Summer School dedicated to the topic “Data Curation” was held from the 17 July to 6 August 2017 at the DAI’s headquarter in Berlin, in cooperation with NCAM and the Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). 14 colleagues from the Sudan, Tunesia and Palestine participated in the workshop.

The Summer School focused on the development of skills and workflows for the curation and structuring of analog and digital data, including general aspects such as the storage and handling of analog archival material as well as the digitization of such documentation and best practice measures for the management of digital data.

Following the Summer School in Berlin, first preparatory steps were taken for the development of the heritage registry during a visit of the DAI‘s staff in Khartoum. The focus hereby was on creating a scientific archive at NCAM.

The technical implementation of the necessary measures for the development of a heritage inventory for the Sudanese antiquities Service is scheduled for 2018. The data collected during the digitization of the archive of Friedrich W. Hinkel in the past 3 years will serve as the basis for the new heritage inventory for the Sudan. Information concerning over 14,000 sites in the Sudan are currently held in the systems of the iDAI.world, from where it will be transferred into the NCAM‘s new system in the future.