The archaeological mission of Sapienza University of Rome - in cooperation with the Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums - at Hugair Gubli, located in Upper Nubia (Sudan), at the fourth cataract of the Nile, primarily aims to investigate, dig and document a large temple whose last phase dates back to the Late Napatan age and more precisely to the reign of Aktisanes (4th century BC, known also from classical sources, such as Hecataeus of Abdera), but whose original nucleus very likely dates back to the New Kingdom, and in particular to the Eighteenth Dynasty.
It is a big temple carved out of a sandstone quarry, whose naos and part of the colonnade are still clearly legible, as well as the megalithic foundations.
The temple, however, is not an isolated monument, being at the centre of an area, still to be explored, rich of other archaeological remains. The excavation of the temple (main objective of the mission), therefore, will be integrated with wider research in the micro-region of Hugair Gubli/Magal, in order to document the archaeological landscape of the area, which is still awaiting a systematic study.
Beyond its scientific goals, that are obviously the most important ones, the archaeological expedition to Hugair Gubli represents the return to Sudan of Sapienza University of Rome several decades after the excavations directed by Prof. Sergio Donadoni, carried out during and soon after the Rescue of Nubian monuments and sites coordinated by UNESCO, a return that the Sudanese authorities show to greatly appreciate and encourage.
It is important to stress that this project extends the research activities of Sapienza University to a country where no other missions, of any kind, of the same institution are active.
The temple of Hugair Gubli has never been excavated and the area around it never systematically explored.
Moreover, if the monuments and necropolises of Napatan and Meroitic phase located in the area of Gebel Barkal are the object of several international archaeological missions, the micro-region taken into consideration by Sapienza University is virtually unknown.
In addition to this, the unusual location of the remains of the temple inside the walls of an old local house, now expropriated, permit to plan the creation of a little museum, destined to host panels and 3D reconstructions, which will enrich the visibility of our Institution, together with the publication of a brief printed archaeological guide.
In this respect the programme of the excavation season perfectly respects the guidelines of the 'bando', according to which "gli obiettivi strategici dell'Ateneo sono quelli di favorire la crescita della qualità complessiva della ricerca, sostenere le attività di ricerca di eccellenza e assicurare opportunità di sviluppo e di accesso a tutte le aree disciplinari", since Nubian Studies are certainly to be considered a discipline to be (re)developed at Sapienza University and the project in itself has also the purpose to stimulate the collaboration with an emerging country, by means of the concrete contribution to the training of local archaeologists.