Travelling the Korosko Road: Archeological Exploration in Sudan's Eastern Desert
Caroline Stone
W. Vivian Davis and Derek A. Welsby, eds.
2020, Archaeopress, 978-1-78969-803-9, £60, hb.
The Korosko Road serves as the main route through the desert between Egypt and the Sudan. The present volume covers the archeological exploration carried out in the region over the past 30 years in a series of essays by several scholars. The first part explores and documents the region between 1989 and 2006. There are chapters on the archeological remains, pottery finds and on the gold mines—the main reason for colonial penetration into this region otherwise inhospitable to Europeans. The second part of the book, the fruit of a brief season in 2013 by the Sudan Archeologist Research Society, opens with a useful summary of travelers to the region going back to antiquity. The aim is to consolidate the previous survey and document the more than 40 hieroglyphic inscriptions found in the region. The book is beautifully produced with full and detailed academic records of all finds. The hundreds of excellent photographs are of importance, since the recent informal reopening of many mines has led to much looting of archeological sites.