Atbai Survey Project مشروع مسح ايتباي

The Atbai Survey Project is now @mq_dha! This project is dedicated to studying the archaeology, history and heritage of the region between the Nile&Red Sea. Stay tuned for updates, publications & collaborations #archaeology #History #Sudan #Egyptology- image, 2nd mil BCE tumuli

Atbai Mysteries. Thousands of these small stone-circles scatter the Atbai desert, but only a few were excavated and turned out to be burials? Did all function this way, or were some livestock pens? Or did some also function as small living quarters? #Atbai #Egypt #Sudan

A sneak peak of the new project website, hopefully to be uploaded this month, a platform for the heritage of Eastern Sudan. #atbai #archaeology

Take a look at our new video from the Africa Down Under conference (Sep, 2025), the story of gold-mining in ancient Egypt and Sudan: youtube.com/watch?v=v-iooX…. #gold #Egypt #Sudan #archaeology

See also sudarchrs.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

#Sudan #Egypt #Medieval #redsea #deserts

Crossing the Atbai Route #3: the Berber-Suakin route. This route connected the area of Berber on the Sudanese Nile with the Islamic port of Suakin, taking advantage of good passes and wells in this short stretch of desert.

#Egypt #Sudan #Egyptology #archaeology #desert

The famous Arab historian Maqrizi said in Omari's time they could shorten the route to Egypt from a month to two days, and that it was used by the Nubians, the inhabitants of the kingdoms of Christian Nubia. The route is very harsh, with little water and difficult navigation.

Crossing the Atbai Route #2, the Korosko Road. This route linked Korosko in Lower Nubia with Abu Hamed, directly bypassed many cataracts of the Nile and the large 'bend' in the Nile. The only relatively safe water supply was at the well of Murrat, in the middle of the route.

A special thanks to Hozaifa Abdelmagid & Derek Welsby in particular, and also Mubarak Adam, Salah Mohammed Saleh, NCAM, all without whom this work would have been impossible. #Nubia #Sudan #Egyptology #archaeology @Macquarie_Uni

Thank you to the coauthors (Rebecca Whiting, Ewa Czyżewska-Zalewska & Kefilwe Rammutloa), collaborators, and our Sudanese colleagues and friends for making this possible. It was a challenging season at the site, the flies were many, the sand omnipresent, and the wind unrelenting

Who controlled access to the Atbai's goldmines? Romans? Arabs? or ancient Beja/Blemmyes? Our paper out now (open access) addresses these questions through excavations at a key mining site and cemetery at Khor Rafit: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

There was at least 2-3 sub-routes, one linking Lower Nubia directly with Allaqi, a higher-traffic route linking Aswan with Allaqi, and a route going directly from Qos in Upper Egypt. Below: Ruins of the port of Aydhab. #Archaeology #Islam #Atbai #Egyptology

The route was crucial for both gold supply in the Caliphate and as a Hajj pilgrimage route, bringing pilgrims from Upper Egypt (and Africa) to the Red Sea and then Jeddah & Mecca. This route is only documented in medieval times, although early versions of it likely existed.

Crossing the Atbai Route #1, the Aswan-Aydhab Route. This route linked the Medieval Islamic port of Aydhab with Upper Egypt, linking with the major gold-mining town of Allaqi, a famous trade-station in the middle of the Atbai desert.

In the Wadi Gabgaba region alone, the Atbai Survey Project has identified >80 mines. These date to various periods+cultures, from Nubians, Egyptians, Romans, and Arabs. The ancient Beja nomads also built their own mines. (yellow=mod. mining) #Archaeology #Sudan #gold #Egypt

What does a typical ancient Sudanese goldmine look like? From satellite imagery, they are quite easy to detect. Common features include excavations of hills, disturbed wadis, and traces of settlements. There are 100s of goldmines across the Atbai, many undiscovered.