Archeology | The world-famous treasures languished for decades in a moldy barn in Päijät-Häme

Finns archaeologists made history in the 1960s by participating in a unique operation in Sudan. They unearthed the treasures of the ancient burial sites of the “Glory of Egypt” before the great dam project covered them with water.

The Nubian collection unearthed at that time was the subject of a new rescue operation this summer. Modern archaeologists, together with the Finnish Museum Agency, moved it out of the moldy barn in Päijät-Hämee, where the collection had been stored for decades.

Now we will find out why the objects were brought to Finland in the first place and why and when exactly they were moved to the barn.

“In no way can this method of storage be considered appropriate. These finds have now been saved again. This is how we have seen it,” says a Middle Eastern archaeologist to STT Juli Ahola from the Finnish Middle East Institute (FIME).

In June, Ahola himself participated in the cleaning and packaging of the objects, which lasted about two weeks.

“The unrest in Sudan may prevent the return of the findings, but at the same time, one could ask how safe they have been in Finland so far as well. It’s confusing that we brought a huge number of discoveries to Finland, but we didn’t take care of them in the way they required,” says Ahola.

He is happy that the objects will finally get the storage space they deserve in the Museum Agency’s new collection center in Vantaa. The collection is scheduled to be moved in September.

Ending the barn as a temporary storage place has puzzled even today’s authorities.

“We ourselves have wondered where the decision to move them to that warehouse came from. I believe they were moved there in the 1970s and 80s. This perhaps indicates that the discoveries were not valued as much as they should have been at that time. It has also certainly been thought that since the objects are ceramics and stone, they do not require special conditions to be preserved”, says the Chief Superintendent of the Finnish Museum Agency Jutta Kuitunen for STT.

The Finnish Museum Agency is currently investigating whether part of the other material excavated in Finland, which is not related to the Nubian finds, has been destroyed due to the storage conditions in the same barn.

“Hopefully, after the holidays, we will be able to investigate this issue,” Kuitunen says.

The Nubian collection consists mostly of ceramics, such as plates and containers for food, oil or wine. There are also a few stone objects, such as parts of obelisks from the Sudan-Egypt border in the area of ​​ancient Nubia. The finds date back to around 1600–1365 before the start of the countdown, i.e. partly to the time of the famous pharaohs, Ahola says.

The objects were cleaned in June with heavy equipment to protect against poisons and without water, brushes and industrial grade vacuum cleaners. However, according to Ahola, the findings had clearly also been washed with water at one time.

“(Water washing) has reduced their scientific potential. They also found, for example, the remains of mice,” he says.

International rescue operation In the 60s, before the construction of the Aswan Great Dam, there was one of UNESCO’s biggest cultural heritage projects ever. Finnish archaeologists participated in it as part of the Nordic Nubian expedition with Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

All the Finnish archaeologists who were part of the expedition have already died, Ahola says.

According to him, a large part of the largest finds were first shipped to Helsinki and taken to the storage facilities of the National Museum’s outer building in 1964 after the excavations were completed. According to Ahola, a lot was written about bringing part of the collection to Finland at the time in Finnish newspapers, such as in HS in October 1964.

The expedition had divided the findings according to the materials to be examined. According to Ahola, the textiles were sent to Norway and the bones to Denmark. Pottery from an earlier period went to Sweden, and pottery from a later period was brought to Finland, Ahola says.

The division was originally supposed to be temporary, but the findings remained in limbo after comprehensive studies were published, and the re-division was never implemented.

Jutta Kuitunen of the Finnish Museum Agency estimates that it probably happened that the final decision on the final location of the material was not made because the interest of researchers waned over the years.

“It’s great that interest has rekindled now and we can use the materials for research,” Kuitunen said.

According to the archaeologist, however, in other countries, the finds are known to have been stored in practical, modern conditions.

“For example, in Sweden and Denmark, where I have seen them, the findings have been properly preserved and inventoried and are available to researchers,” says Ahola.

Occupational health institution (TTL) researcher was able to examine the barn that served as a storehouse for Nubian finds as part of TTL, which started two years ago to the project museum sector as a work environment.

“There was a lot of dust in the two-story barn. The smell of mold stuck to the clothes, even though we hadn’t been there for long,” recalls the TTL researcher Henna Sinisalo.

As a result of the occupational health project, other museum warehouses in poor condition were found – apparently poor warehouses are a common problem for museums.

“When collections are damaged in bad storage facilities, a lot of lead can be released into the air. We saw other bad storage facilities, which resulted in high dust, microbial and lead concentrations,” says Sinisalo.

According to Sinisalo, the National Museum and the Finnish Museum Agency are “seriously” improving their warehouses, but it is not easy for all museums to get resources for better facilities and relocation.

From an occupational health perspective, risks are not only caused by poor storage facilities, but according to TTL, materials such as asbestos, mercury, lead or arsenic may have been used as materials for making museum objects.

The Museum Office according to that, no plans have yet been made to present the Nubian collection at the exhibition, but it would now be possible. First, the findings are to be published by the search service In Finland digitally.

According to the Swedish Museum Agency, so far there has been no request for the return of the collection – a new civil war has also recently flared up in Sudan.