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CONTENTS
IN
FOCUS
p 2 - The red tide
NEWS
p 8 - A science policy for Lebanon
p 9 - Kit helps kids discover drylands
p 9 - Humans bigger danger for coral reefs than tsunami
p 10 - UNESCO Chair in Earth sciences for Nigeria
p 11- Federation of African Societies of Chemistry founded
p 12 - UNESCO condems terror campaign against Iraqi
academics
p 12 - Pacific tsunami warning system put to the test
p 13 - African World Heritage Fund launched
INTERVIEW
p 14 - Hans van Ginkel presents
a think-tank within the United Nations
HORIZONS
p 17 - Using the sun to quench
their thirst
p 19 - Saviours from space for
Siberia's frozen tombs
IN BRIEF
p 24 - Diary
p 24 - New releases
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Saving
lost civilizations
Ask
people to name UNESCO's greatest triumph in its 60 years of
existence and how many would say, 'Abu Simbel'? In the late
1950s, the plight of these 3000-year old temples captured
the public imagination. Abu Simbel and 22 other Nubian temples
and tombs were in danger of disappearing beneath the waters
of Lake Nasser, a reservoir created by the construction of
the Aswan High Dam. The Governments of Egypt and Sudan appealed
to UNESCO for help. UNESCO responded by organizing the most
vast international campaign ever to safeguard archaeological
heritage.
Moving
the Nubian temples would demand great ingenuity. The beautifully
sculpted temples had to be cut into stone blocks and numbered
prior to being transported and reassembled, like pieces in
a jigsaw puzzle: 37 000 blocks for the Philae temples alone.
Some
of the sandstone at Abu Simbel was so friable that it had
to be injected with synthetic resin to prevent it from crumbling
under the saw. The cliff in which Abu Simbel was niched had
to be removed and an artificial hillside constructed 180 m
back from the original site on higher ground. Abu Simbel was
still being dismantled when the waters began rising, sending
engineers scuttling to erect a protective dam after an emergency
geological survey.
The
safeguard of the Nubian temples was a cultural triumph but
equally a triumph of science and engineering. This was neither
the first, nor the last, time that scientists and engineers
had helped to preserve the memory of lost civilizations.
Methods
have evolved, of course, since the 1960s. The development
of satellite imagery, for instance, combined with fair use
clauses permitting wide use of the technology, has revolutionized
such diverse fields as meteorology, ecology, physical oceanography
and ... archaeology.
UNESCO
is currently using space technologies to help save another
archaeological treasure, the frozen tombs of Siberia. These
tombs offer rare insights into the lost Scythian culture.
Preserved in permafrost for 2500 years, the tombs lie scattered
across the Altai Mountains straddling China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia
and Russia. They contain frozen bodies in such a remarkable
state of conservation that even the tattoos on their skin
are often intact.
In
this issue, we follow the project's progress since the US
National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) joined UNESCO
and the European Space Agency in their Open Initiative to
protect natural and cultural sites using space technologies.
NASA is providing the University of Ghent in Belgium with
the satellite imagery it needs to produce the first comprehensive
map of the tombs and terrain.
As
with Abu Simbel, the scientists are engaged in a race against
time. Climate change is thawing the ground which has protected
the tombs for so long. The conservationists from the four
countries concerned need to know how fast the Altai's glaciers
are retreating to devise an effective strategy for saving
the tombs. By monitoring climate change in the Altai, the
project will also be providing them with these answers.
W.
Erdelen
Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences
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UNESCO
Scientific 
