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During the winter of 2002-3 SARS, in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, began the first of a three season campaign of excavation in the area of the 1999 survey. Concentrating on the excavation of cemeteries the archaeological team worked on sites dating between the Kerma Ancien (c. 2500 - 2050 BC) and the medieval period (c. AD 550 - 1500). Burial practices showed a wide range of variation over time with bodies placed in every conceivable attitude and orientated to all points of the compass. The most consistent arrangements were found in the earliest and latest periods. In the Kerma Ancien burials the body was placed on its right side with the head to the east facing north and in a crouched position. Medieval burials, on the other hand, were invariably extended usually on their back with the head to the west.

The placing of this individual, on its stomach and with its limbs spread-eagled, is highly unusual. It was buried in an oval pit dug into the bedrock and covered by a prominent stone cairn.

The discovery of a pyramid, with its offering chapel and enclosure wall, dating to the early Kushite period (c. 8th - 5th century BC) was totally unexpected. It was constructed of large blocks of granite apart from the capstone, which was of yellow Nubian sandstone and had a square socket in the top presumably for a finial. Most of the pyramid was dismantled when the tomb, which lay beneath it, was plundered.

The typical medieval tomb monument was the box grave. Here the cemetery at site 3-J-23 close to the village of et-Tereif is under excavation. In an area where 14 monuments were visible on the surface a total of 47 graves were revealed, many containing naturally mummified bodies wrapped in textiles.