Modern technology is threatening to destroy the remains of 5,000 years of cultural history unless a UNESCO comission headed by John O. Brew, Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, can roll back the waters of the Nile.

When the new High Dam at Aswam, Egypt, is finished in about eight years, it will create one of the largest artificial lakes in the world--over 200 miles long. Lost beneath the waters will be the whole of pre-historic Nubia, according to Brew. Archaeological remains from paleolithic Nubria, pre-dynastic and dynastic Egypt, and Greco-Roman culture are in the threatened area.

To attract outside help in salvaging and preserving works in the area, the Egyptian government has offered liberal terms, even allowing the removal of several complete temples for reconstruction elsewhere.

The major problem, however, is to protect from unnundation large sites such as Philae, and Abu Simble, which cannot be removed. The former, Brew said, is "about the size of the Harvard Yard," while the latter is distinguished by 75-foot carved statues of Ramses II guarding the entrance to a series of rock-hewn temple chambers.

Brew, just back from a three week trip to Egypt, termed the magnitude of the problem tremendous. While there, he was head of a special 24 member UNESCO commission of archaeologists, architects, and engineers to advise on feasible methods of salvage.

Suggested methods include the building of coffer dams around sites to protect them from the expected 180 to 200 foot rise in water level.