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Forum: General Forum
Moderated by : Andy B , TimPrevett , Klingon , sem , MickM , TheCaptain , bat400 , coldrum , davidmorgan , Runemage , SolarMegalith
Respond to: Sudan gold miners vie with archaeologists for desert riches
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bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1331
from South Central Indiana, US
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|  New Message Posted!2010-10-16 22:50
Submitted by coldrum --
Dust-covered miners criss-cross Sudan's Nubian desert, absorbed by the drone of the pan-shaped metal detectors with which they scour the ground in search of gold.
The desert, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) northeast of Khartoum, draws thousands of fortune seekers, some of whom have arrived in their 4X4 vehicles and set up tents equipped with water barrels and enough food for weeks.
But it is also home to ancient relics from the Nubian kingdom, one of the earliest civilisations in the Nile valley, and archaeologists and officials fear that a crucial part of Sudan's heritage is being effaced as the miners pillage or accidentally damage the sites.
The rise in gold prices over the past two years and an influx of metal detectors, which sell for about 6,000 dollars in Sudan, have spurred the gold rush.
"In Sudan we have at least 200,000 people working in this new activity. It's a gold fever now, just like in the old American style of the 19th century when everybody was hunting for gold," Mining Minister Abdelbaqi al-Jaylani told AFP.
But he also highlighted the problems the gold rush has brought with it.
"The danger is that sometimes we have some archaeological gold. We have to be very careful not to spoil the history and the civilisation of Sudan."
At the end of a remote road, a tractor unearths a strip of red soil that is immediately pounced on by six miners.
"If we find gold, we will share the harvest with the driver," said one of the miners.
Meanwhile, the growing number of gold miners is a source of concern for archaeologists in Sudan which, though very much in Egypt's shadow, holds great promise because it has been far less explored.
"It's become a serious problem," said the country's deputy director of antiquities, Salah Mohammed Ahmed.
"They use their metal detectors and sometimes stumble across ancient artefacts in iron, like arrowheads, or bronze. Some miners hand them over to us, others keep them," said Ahmed.
The archaeological missions, which usually dig in the cooler months between October and February, are already losing their workforce to the gold mining.
In one site north of the city of Atbara, Ahmed says the expedition has lost half its workforce. They "left in search of gold," he said.
For more, see http://www.mysinchew.com/node/43898.
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2010-10-16 22:51 ]
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