The Wendorf collection
History
In autumn 2001 Professor Fred Wendorf, Henderson Memorial Chair
at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Texas, generously donated
his entire collection of artefacts and environmental remains
excavated over a period of 40 years to The British Museum. In the
early 1960s archaeological monuments in Lower Nubia were destined
for obliteration due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam.
UNESCO launched an international appeal to all excavators, no
matter what their geographic area of interest, to help save the
heritage of this region so densely populated with archaeological
monuments and sites. Fred Wendorf was one of the investigators that
responded and beginning in 1962, he participated in his first
season of the Combined Prehistoric Expedition. Professor Wendorf
continues to excavate in Egypt and Sudan even after his retirement
in 2002.
Over the years millions of artefacts were transported to SMU for
storage and further study. The collection, largely composed of
prehistoric lithics, also contains human and faunal skeletal
material, pottery, environmental samples (shells, snails, seeds),
in addition to Professor Wendorf's complete archive. Photographs,
negatives, slides, field notes, specialist reports, prepublished
manuscripts, photo layouts and many other items are available for
perusal.
The collection is currently being organised and housed into two
rooms in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan devoted solely
to the Wendorf Collection. To date, the pottery and human skeletal remains have been catalogued and
are available for interested scholars. The Department of Ancient
Egypt and Sudan, welcomes and encourages archaeological and
anthropological researchers to avail themselves of this exceptional
collection.