South of Aswan lies Nubia, a long, narrow strip of temples, forts and villages along the Nile. In the 1950s Egypt decided to build a new high dam at Aswan, and its lake would flood Nubia for hundreds of kilometers. The answer was the largest survey and rescue effort archaeology had ever attempted.
Key idea
When the Aswan High Dam was built (1960–1970), UNESCO led an international campaign (1960–1980) to record and save Nubia's monuments. Teams from many countries surveyed and excavated the threatened land, and engineers moved 22 monuments, including the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae, to higher ground. Many sites, and whole Nubian villages, were lost under Lake Nasser.
Why it works
A dam lake is permanent. Anything not recorded or moved before the water rose would be lost for good, so the campaign had to work at a speed no excavation normally allows. That is why it combined rapid survey of the whole valley, quick excavation of the most important sites, and the cutting and moving of temples too important to lose.
| Monument | What was done |
|---|---|
| Abu Simbel | 1964–1968: cut into more than a thousand blocks, most about 20 tons, and rebuilt about 65 m higher and 200 m back from the river |
| Philae | 1977–1980: taken down into about 40,000 pieces and rebuilt on Agilkia island, about 500 m away |
| Kalabsha | moved by a West German team to a new site near the dam |
| Dendur, Debod, Taffeh, Ellesyia | given by Egypt to the United States, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy for their help |
| Buhen and many other sites | excavated and recorded, then flooded; Buhen's temple was moved to Khartoum |
Worked example: Why move a temple?
Abu Simbel's temples are cut into a cliff. Why move them rather than build a wall around them?
- A wall would have to hold back a lake many meters deep, forever, with water seeping through the sandstone.
- Cutting the temples and the cliff face into blocks and rebuilding them inside an artificial hill above the water was judged safer.
- The new site was set so that the sun still reaches the inner sanctuary on two days of the year, as it did before.
Answer: Because no barrier could safely hold back the lake for ever.
Worked example: What was not saved
The campaign is often called a triumph. What does that leave out?
- Most of Nubia's archaeological sites could only be recorded, not saved, and are now under water.
- Many thousands of Nubian people in Egypt and Sudan were moved from their villages and lands, losing homes and a way of life that went back centuries.
- A fair account counts the monuments rescued and the losses together.
Answer: The flooded sites and the displaced Nubian communities.
Common mistake
Thinking every Nubian site was saved. Many sites, and whole villages, now lie under Lake Nasser. The 22 moved monuments are the exception, not the rule.