There is a late morning in Sudan. There are crates of artifacts, a replica of a 2,000-year-old stone statue of a Nubian god, and students rushing through the corridors in the centre of the Sudanese capital. There is a lot of noise and traffic outside.
A group of people are studying archaeology at Khartoum University. Not one of them is older than 24 and they see themselves as pioneers, breaking new ground on a continent that has long attracted western expeditions, but whose own archaeologists have received less attention abroad.
Africans need to do African archaeology because we will have our own cultures. We know a lot because we are from here. The idea that people from the west know what's best is no longer valid.
The South Kordorfan province is located in the remote and war-torn part of the country. She said that there is an idea of what an archaeologist looks like, but they should not have a certain image or feature.
The image of archaeologists in Africa has been at odds with reality for a long time. The acting director of Sudan's national museum said that there were only three women studying archaeology 30 years ago.
This is a big change and important. There are more and more young women in Sudan who want to know about their past, and they deserve to know it. Many Sudanese missions dig at our sites.
The director of the Africa programme at Chatham House in London used to be an archaeologist in Zimbabwe and east Africa.
The archaeology was dominated by white people. He said that it's now driven by indigenous research.
A discipline that has become detached from reality is argued to be helped by greater involvement by African archaeologists.
The cost of living, climate crisis, migration, and reflecting on our identity are just some of the topics that archaeology can speak to. Dr Sada Mire is an associate professor of heritage studies at University College London.
35 people from local communities have been involved in the study of rock art as a result of Mire's help. They have a lot of knowledge we don't have, but they have the equipment and know how to do it. She said it's a way of connecting two worlds.
The link between imperialist exploitation of the continent and archaeological research was established as early as 1798 when Napoleon invaded Egypt.
Sudan was run by a series of autocrats who were often beholden to external powers. Most people didn't pay attention to archaeology. Western support was important in preserving what was left.
The director of Sudan's National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums said she was grateful to foreign archaeologists who never stopped coming. This helped us a lot. Sudan was helped in maintaining and sustaining our work by them. Professionals were needed. We now have a lot.
A group of Sudanese archaeologists are working in Europe to reverse a century-old flow in the other direction. When African archaeologists travel to Europe or the US to do archaeological work, they will be looking forward to it.
This appeals to a Sudanese man who has never left his homeland. We want to go somewhere. I would like to know more about my past. We should study your history in the west the way you have done here. She suggested that we could teach you something.
There are a lot of obstacles for the new wave of young archaeologists. Women's choice of profession can cause resistance from family and schools.
Three years my family was against me. What are you doing with this qualification? If you are a woman, why do you want to be an archeologist? What are you going to do? He said that he was very determined.
Men are prejudiced and ignorant. When he said he was an archaeologist, he was often laughed at.
They can't understand why I chose to work in this field. They think I'm working in the dirt. I'm accused of being a grave digger. This is not what archaeologists do. They get it from movies like Indiana Jones. They don't have all the facts.
There isn't enough resources. Governments in Africa have been crippled by the current economic crisis. In Khartoum, classes are held in a 50-year-old building that gets frequent power cuts. Funding and facilities are not always adequate in South Africa.
Scaling up is the biggest challenge. There is a lot of Africa's heritage that has not yet been investigated and is in danger of being lost.
He sees the development of a group of young colleagues as important for Sudan and has been at the forefront of a new push to get artifacts back. She said that history should be written from the viewpoint of the Sudanese.
More is at stake than the task of investigation and discovery of past lives for the students in Khartoum. There were hopes of a swift transition to democracy after the fall of the veteran dictator. More than 100 people have died in protests against the new regime which has close relations with several repressive Gulf states.
Our own archaeologists are needed to be a free country.
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