Release date: Feb. 6, 2008

Carlos Museum Exhibits Some of Africa's Greatest Archaeological Treasures

Contact: Amy Branch, 404-727-4292, amy.branch@emory.edu

Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum is opening a major traveling exhibition featuring some of the most significant archaeological treasures ever found in Africa.

The exhibition, on view from Feb. 9 through Aug. 31, is part of a collection consisting of the most comprehensive array of Nubian artifacts outside Sudan.

Included in the exhibition are more than 250 objects in gold, silver, bronze, ivory, stone and ceramic ranging from 7000 B.C. to modern times, providing an unprecedented insight into ancient Nubia, the extraordinary black African civilization that has often been overshadowed by ancient Egypt.

Ancient Nubia thrived from 6000 BC to 350 AD in today's southern Egypt and northern Sudan. "Lost Kingdoms of the Nile: Nubian Treasures from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," highlights not only some of the finest artworks ever found in ancient Africa but also the remarkable stories of their discovery by archaeologists who were part of the Harvard-Boston Expedition from 1913 to 1932.

"The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston houses the world's greatest collection of Nubian art and for the first time it's been put together as an exhibition to premiere at the Carlos Museum," says Peter Lacovara, senior curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art at the Carlos Museum. Highlights of the chronologically organized exhibition include:

• An exquisite golden royal diadem, which is reconstructed in its entirety for the first time.

• Finely crafted ceramics, including some of the earliest pottery in the world.

• Treasures from the royal Nubian tombs, including part of an army of shawabti figurines buried to work for the Nubian kings who ruled over the areas of both modern-day Egypt and the Sudan.

• Inscriptions in the mysterious language of Nubia.

• Some of the Carlos Museum's own Nubian collection and a wide variety of interpretive materials prepared by the Carlos' experts on the subject.

"Lost Kingdoms of the Nile" is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in conjunction with the Carlos Museum.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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