Archaeology in the eye of the storm: public perceptions, conflict and the urgency of community-centred heritage protection in Sudan

The Sudanese Nile Valley contains an exceptionally dense concentration of archaeological sites, many of which now face unprecedented threats from rapid development, chronic underfunding and the devastating effects of ongoing conflict. This study examines the effectiveness of current preservation strategies under conditions of state collapse, using a mixed-methods approach that combines a literature review with a 2025 online survey of 210 members of the Sudanese public. The findings indicate that, although cultural pride in heritage remains strong, public understanding of its educational and economic value is much weaker; nearly half of respondents described current conservation conditions as poor. The conflict has also led to a near-total collapse of professional oversight, resulting in the systematic looting of national and regional museums, fire damage to relocated monuments and the illicit trafficking of antiquities. Furthermore, the study identifies major structural weaknesses, including a professional vacuum caused by the lack of domestic specialist training in areas such as osteology and an outdated legal framework that neither protects modern architecture nor provides ethical guidance for the treatment of ancestral remains. It concludes that traditional top-down, expert-led protection strategies — especially reliance on physical enclosures alone — are inadequate for safeguarding Sudan’s heritage in a conflict zone. It advocates instead for a people-centred model of stewardship. Key recommendations include granting heritage institutions greater institutional and financial autonomy, revising the 1999 Antiquities Ordinance to cover modern heritage and bioarchaeological ethics and expanding community-based initiatives built around the inclusive concept of turath (heritage). Together, these measures would help create locally grounded conservation frameworks capable of protecting Sudan’s past as a source of social recovery, resilience and shared identity.