Il ruolo dell’archeologia nel campo della diplomazia culturale: l’approccio della missione internazionale ad Adulis, Eritrea

The site of Adulis is located on the southwestern coast of the Red Sea, on the bay of Zula, about 50 km south of Massawa, in Eritrea. The outcomes of the international archaeological mission presented here in summary are the result of the work of a large team of Eritrean and Italian archaeologists, architects, engineers, technicians, students, and local workers over the course of more than twelve years. In particular, this contribution intends to elucidate some methodological premises that constitute the foundations of the Eritrean-Italian international cooperation project relevant to cultural and scientific diplomacy and to universities' support for development. In addition to a summary of the history of the research before 2011, the year in which the current project, still operational, was launched, a synthesis of the main results obtained, not only in the scientific field will be presented.