Construction of a new dam is now underway on the River Nile in Northern Sudan at the Fourth Cataract. This dam will create a reservoir approximately 170 kilometres in length flooding the river valley from Hamdab to the tip of Mograt Island near Abu Hamed. Very little archaeological work has ever been undertaken in this region but what has indicates the richness and diversity of human settlement from the Palaeolithic period onwards.

The Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums is launching a major international appeal for missions to undertake survey and excavations in the threatened area before its inundation. For details of the appeal and of the proposed archaeological salvage project click here.

The braided Nile channel above the Fourth Cataract.

The new town, built to house the dam construction workers, at Hamdab on the left bank of the Nile, nearing completion, February 2003.

An early Kushite pyramid with offering chapel and enclosure wall, built from granite blocks, near the village of et-Tereif.

There is excellent preservation of organic remains in the arid environment. Here a juvenile dating from the Christian period wrapped in textile and naturally mummified.

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