The Society’s fieldwork publications

The Society is committed to the prompt publication of its own fieldwork projects, and also assists with the publication of other work. All the publications listed below may be purchased from the Society … ORDER FORM PAGE >

Publications

To date, 27 monographs have been produced and others are in preparation, including volumes on the surveys and excavations at the Fourth Cataract and on the long-running excavations at Kawa.

List of publications

Road Archaeology in the Middle Nile Road Archaeology in the Middle Nile : Volume 1
The SARS Survey from Bagrawiya – Meroe to Atbara 1993
by M. D. S. Mallinson, L. M. V. Smith, S. Ikram, C. Le Quesne and P. Sheehan

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 1996
207 pages, 4 tables, 14 figures, 15 plates, 21 maps
ISBN 978 1 901169 00 6

This, the first definitive report to be published by SARS, is an account of the results of the first rescue season on the line of the Geili to Atbara road. Included are sections on the survey, the pottery and other artefacts and the animal bone.

PRICE : £48 / Society members £35 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Gabati Vol.1 Gabati : Volume 1
A Meroitic, Post-Meroitic and Medieval Cemetery in Central Sudan
by D.N. Edwards with contributions by P.J. Rose, L.M.V. Smith, S. Taylor, H. Cool, A. Clapham, Q. Mould and M. Ryder

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 1998
257 pages, 14 tables, 106 figures, 7 colour and 94 black & white plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 02 2

The Gabati cemetery was discovered during the SARS Begrawiya to Atbara Survey in 1993. In the face of its imminent destruction by the new Challenge Road, a single season of rescue excavation was mounted in 1994-95 in the course of which over 100 graves were excavated.

This monograph describes in detail the archaeology of this important site. It includes reports by specialists on the pottery and the other finds from the graves, some of which contained large amounts of well preserved organic material; a detailed report on the human skeletal material is in preparation.

PRICE : £33 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Kulubnarti IIKulubnarti II
The Artifactual Remains
by W.Y. Adams and N.K. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 1998
135 pages, 9 tables, 42 figures, 28 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 01 4

The second of the three-volume series devoted to the results of the University of Kentucky’s excavations on the island of Kulubnarti in the Northern Sudan. The first volume, Kulubnarti I – The Architectural Remains, by W.Y. Adams, appeared in 1994. Kulubnarti II describes in detail the artifactual finds, well over one thousand in number and covering a wide range of categories, from the settlement sites.

PRICE : £45 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Kulubnarti III Kulubnarti III
The Cemeteries
by W. Y. Adams, N. K. Adams, D.P. Van Gerven and D.L. Greene

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 1999
90 pages, 24 tables, 17 figures, 18 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 03 0

The final volume of the series devoted to the results of the University of Kentucky’s excavations on the island of Kulubnarti in the Northern Sudan. The first volume, Kulubnarti I : The Architectural Remains (by W. Y. Adams) appeared in 1994 and was reprinted in 2000. Kulubnarti II, by W. Y. Adams and N. K. Adams, published in 1998, describes in detail the artifactual finds. This third volume reports on the graves, the grave goods — particularly the abundant textiles — and the human remains.

PRICE : £19 / Society members £17 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Meinarti I Meinarti I
The Late Meroitic Ballaña and Transitional Remains
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2000
124 pages, 13 tables, 41 figures, 22 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 04 9>

The first of four volumes devoted to the results of the Sudan Antiquities Service excavations on the island of Meinarti at the Second Cataract in Northern Sudan. Part of the international campaign to save the monuments of Nubia, the work was carried out during two field seasons, between February 1963 and June 1964. One half of the 12.5m high settlement mound was totally excavated revealing occupation spanning from the Late Meroitic period until the 19th century.>

PRICE : £29 / Society members £25 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Meinarti II Meinarti II
The Early and Classic Christian Phases
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2001
136 pages, 16 tables, 52 figures, 40 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 06 5

Bill Adams excavated the settlement on the Island of Meinarti at the Second Nile Cataract on behalf of the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1963-64 prior to its total destruction by the waters impounded by the High Dam at Aswan. This report is one of several volumes in preparation detailing the excavations of this village whose occupation spanned from the Late Kushite period in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD into the late 19th century.

Adams discusses in detail the structural remains on the site along with a detailed analysis of the finds, particularly the pottery which provided much of the information on which the author’s seminal work, Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia was based.

PRICE : £45 / Society members £35 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Life on the Desert Edge Life on the Desert Edge
Seven thousand years of settlement in the Northern Dongola Reach, Sudan
by D. A. Welsby with contributions by C. Andrews, C. Cartwright, J. Cook, Fathi Abdul Hamid, A. Grant, L. Joyner, M. Judd, M. Macklin, I. Welsby Sjöström, B. Wills & J. Woodward

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2001
643 pages, 118 tables, 313 figures, 6 colour and 95 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 05 7

The final report on the Society’s survey in the Northern Dongola Reach of the Nile between 1993 and 1997. Working on the east bank of the river to the edge of the desert plateau, over 450 sites were discovered, many arranged along palaeochannels of the Nile. The project was able to chart the development of settlement and the reaction of the population to the onset of desertification and the drying up of the palaeochannels.

SORRY … This book is out of print

Uncovering Ancient Sudan Uncovering Ancient Sudan
A Decade of Discovery by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society
edited by D. A. Welsby & W. V. Davies

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2002
52 pages, 23 figures, 133 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 10 3

This book, which is profusely illustrated throughout in colour, describes the field projects sponsored and supported by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society during its first 10 years. It provides a dramatic introduction to the deserts and the River Nile in northern Sudan, and to the rich archaeological heritage of the country.

Among the projects featured are major urban excavations at Soba East and Kawa, cemetery excavations at Gabati, surveys in the Bayuda Desert, the Northern Dongola Reach, and above the Fourth Cataract, and epigraphic work at Kurgus.

PRICE : £10 / Society members £7 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Meinarti III Meinarti III
The Late and Terminal Christian Phases
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2002
137 pages, 15 tables, 81 figures, 3 colour and 38 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 09 X

Bill Adams excavated the settlement on the Island of Meinarti at the Second Nile Cataract on behalf of the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1963-64 prior to its total destruction by the waters impounded by the High Dam at Aswan. This report is one of several volumes in preparation. It details the extensive remains of the Late and Terminal Christian villages up to the abandonment of the site probably in the 16th century. Also included is an account of the evidence for a short-lived re-occupation by a unit of the Anglo-Egyptian army in the late 19th century.

PRICE : £47 / Society members £36 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Survey Above the Fourth Nile Cataract Survey Above the Fourth Nile Cataract
by D. A. Welsby with contributions by P. Braddock and D. Usai

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2003
144 pages, 56 tables, 4 colour and 88 b&w figures, 61 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 07 3

In response to an international appeal by the Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums for missions to undertake archaeological survey and excavations in the region threatened by the projected Merowe Dam, the Society conducted a survey in 1999.

Granted a concession for a 40km stretch along the left bank of the Nile and on the adjacent islands between Amri and Kirbekan, the team concentrated its efforts in the vicinity of the village of et-Tereif.

This report contains a detailed gazetteer of the sites located as well as discussions of the rock pictures and small finds by the main author, of the pottery by Pam Braddock and of the lithics by Donatella Usai.

PRICE : £35 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Meinarti IV and V Meinarti IV and V
The Church and the Cemetery
The History of Meinarti – an interpretive overview
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2003
107 pages, 17 tables, 20 figures, 1 colour and 17 b&w plates
ISBN 1 901169 11 1

Bill Adams excavated the settlement on the Island of Meinarti at the Second Nile Cataract on behalf of the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1963-64 prior to its total destruction by the waters impounded by the High Dam at Aswan. Meinarti IV describes in detail the development of the church and its associated cemetery from the 7th to the 14th century.

Meinarti V, the last volume of the series, provides an overview of the history of Meinarti, the most intensively studied settlement of the medieval period in Nubia.

PRICE : £25 / Society members £20 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Meinarti I Meinarti I-V
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London
See details of individual volumes listed separately above

All five volumes of the series devoted to the island of Meinarti at the Second Nile Cataract. Bill Adams excavated the island on behalf of the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1963-64 prior to its total destruction by the waters impounded by the High Dam at Aswan.

PRICE : on application … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 2 The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 2
Sites of Meroitic and Ballaña Age
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2004
176 pages, 61 figures, 25 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 12 X

The first-published of the three-volume series devoted to the results of the survey and excavations conducted by the Sudan Antiquities Service between 1960 and 1963 during the UNESCO-sponsored Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. Over 150 sites are included in these volumes.

In the present volume are described a wide range of sites, cemeteries, industrial installations and settlements, along with a detailed discussion of all the artefacts discovered.

PRICE : £35 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 3 The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 3
Sites of Christian Age
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2005
202 pages, 12 tables, 85 figures, 21 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 138

This is the second-published of the three-volume series devoted to the results of the survey and excavations conducted by the Sudan Antiquities Service between 1960 and 1963 during the UNESCO-sponsored Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. Over 150 sites are included in these volumes.

In the present volume are described a wide range of sites, cemeteries, industrial installations and settlements dating to the Christian period, along with a detailed discussion of all the pottery and other artefacts discovered.

PRICE : £35 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Hillat el-Arab Hillat el-Arab
The Joint Sudanese-Italian Expedition in the Napatan Region, Sudan
by I. Vincentelli with contributions by Abdel Rahman Ali Mohamed, S. Bonamore, A. Canci, M. Casali, L. Chaix, M. Cottini, M. Ferretti, E. Garcea, A. Roccati, M. Rottoli and Salah Mohamed Ahmed

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2006
233 pages, 42 tables, 120 figures, 7 colour and 12 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 14 6

The cemetery at Hillat el-Arab is one of the very few sites excavated in Sudan that spans the period from the New Kingdom to the early Kushite (Napatan) period. Although partly plundered, the detailed investigation of the tombs has shed a wealth of light on elite burial practices of a community living close to the major religious centre at Jebel Barkal and the burial ground of the early Kushite rulers at el-Kurru.

SORRY … The Society’s version of this book is out of print.
For availability through British Archaeological Reports, visit www.archaeopress.com

A Neolithic Cemetery in the Norther Dongola Reach A Neolithic Cemetery in the Northern Dongola Reach
Excavations at Site R12
by S. Salvatori and D. Usai (eds)

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2008
358 pages, 63 tables, 361 figures, 213 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 15 4

The Neolithic cemetery at R12 was discovered by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society’s Northern Dongola Reach Survey between 1993 and 1997. The large-scale excavations on the site have been followed by an equally detailed and all embracing report on the material recovered by a range of experts who set the material into its regional and supra-regional context.

The challenge has been to reconstruct the life of the Neolithic people from the places where they were buried rather than from where they lived, a task which this report shows is entirely feasible.

PRICE : £42 / Society members £36 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

The Churches of Nobadia The Churches of Nobadia
by W. Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2009
447 pages, 9 tables, 234 figures, 150 plates
ISBN 1 901169 16 2

This two-volume work is the definitive study of the churches of Nobadia, most of which were destroyed during the last century by the dams constructed at Aswan. Professor Adams draws on the work of many fieldworkers, chief among whom are G.S. Mileham and U. Monneret de Villard, as well as contributing significantly from his own excavations of churches in the region.

Each church is described in detail and Nobadian churches as a whole are placed in their Nubian context with a brief overview of what we know to date of churches further to the south in Makuria and Alwa. The book is profusely illustrated with plans, elevations and photographs.

PRICE : £65 / Society members £55 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Sudan\'s First Railway Sudan’s First Railway
The Gordon Relief Expedition and The Dongola Campaign
by D. A. Welsby with contributions by I. Welsby Sjöström, Mahmoud Suleiman Bashiir and J. Joyce

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2011
149 pages, 6 tables, 47 figures, 173 colour and 19 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 1 89

Begun in 1875 by the Egyptian khedive, Ismail Pasha, the railway played an important role during the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884-5 and Kitchener’s Dongola Campaign in 1896. It was abandoned and cannibalised to build other railways in Sudan during the first decade of the 20th century. For much of its course it runs through the desert and in those areas the roadbed, the associated military installations and the innumerable construction camps are extremely well preserved.

This book is the result of a photographic survey of these installations together with the detailed archaeological surveys undertaken within them. A report on the artefacts, which includes personal equipment, ammunition, fragments of rolling stock, bottles, tins and ceramics, completes the volume.

PRICE : £22 / Society members £20 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Kulubnarti I Kulubnarti I
The Architectural Remains
by W.Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2011 reprint
xvii + 162 pages, 17 tables, 7 figures, 66 maps, 5 colour and 30 b&w plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 17 0

The excavations at Kulubnarti remain the only detailed study of a late medieval and post-medieval landscape in the Sudan. The extensive nature of the work on habitation sites of many differing types, on monumental buildings such as the church and the kourfa, on some of the associated cemeteries as well as of the rock art provided an immense amount of data.

The Kulubnarti volumes publish all this material in full and are an invaluable source of information on life in rural settlements during this pivotal period during which Christianity vanished to be replaced by Islam. It thus sheds light on the origins of the present northern Sudanese cultures in an area long inhabited by the Nubians.

In 1998 and 1999, volumes II and III of the reports on the University of Kentucky excavations at Kulubnarti were published by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society as numbers 2 and 4 in its monograph series. Kulubnarti I : The Architectural Remains, long out of print, is here republished (first published 1994).

PRICE : £33 / Society members £28 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Gabati Vol.2 Gabati : Volume 2 : The Physical Anthropology
A Meroitic, Post-Meroitic and Medieval Cemetery in Central Sudan
by M. A. Judd with a contrtibution by D. N. Edwards

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2012
xii + 208 pages, 110 tables, 15 figures, 66 maps, 73 colour plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 19 7

The cemetery at Gabati, dating from the later Kushite, post-Meroitic and Christian periods, was excavated in advance of road construction in 1994-5 — the detailed report being published by the Society in 1998. This complementary volume provides an in-depth analysis of the human remains by Margaret Judd who has worked extensively on similar material from other sites in Sudan.

A final chapter, a contribution from David Edwards, the field director of the project, in conjunction with Judd, assesses the archaeological results in light of continuing research in the region over the last decade and more.

PRICE : £33 / Society members £29 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Gabati Vol.1 Gabati Vols 1 + 2
by various authors

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London
See details of individual volumes listed separately above

Both volumes concerning the cemetery at Gabati, which dates from the later Kushite, post-Meroitic and Christian periods. The first volume (1998) is a detailed report of the excavation done in advance of road construction in 1994-5. The second volume (2012) provides in-depth analysis of the human remains.

PRICE : on application … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 1 The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 1
Sites of Early Nubian, Middle Nubian and Pharaonic Age
by H.-Å. Nordström

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2014
200 pages, 29 tables, 74 figures, 33 plates
ISBN 978 1 901169 195

This volume completes the three-volume series devoted to the results of the survey and excavations conducted by the Sudan Antiquities Service between 1960 and 1963 during the UNESCO-sponsored Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.

The author reports in detail on the Pharaonic and earlier sites, the excavation of many of which he personally directed. Also heavily involved in the publication of the Scandinavian Joint Expedition’s work on the opposite bank, he is ideally placed to provide a synthesis of the evidence for human activity in this part of the Nile Valley, now largely inundated.

PRICE : £35 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 1-3 The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai 1-3
by H.-Å. Nordström and W.Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2014
See details of individual volumes listed separately above

The three-volume series devoted to the results of the survey and excavations conducted by the Sudan Antiquities Service between 1960 and 1963 during the UNESCO-sponsored Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. Over 150 sites are included in these volumes spanning from the Early Nubian period until the collapse of the Medieval kingdoms.

PRICE : special discounted price for the three volumes £70 / Society members £60 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Road Archaeology in the Middle Nile Road Archaeology in the Middle Nile : Volume 2
Excavations from Meroe to Atbara 1994
by M. D. S. Mallinson and L. M. V. Smith

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2017
xiv + 159 pages, 17 tables, 89 plates, 87 figures
ISBN 978 1 784916 466

This volume completes the two-volume series devoted to the results of the excavations conducted along the Challenge Road and includes the small amount of work undertaken in the cemetery at Gabati which was later fully excavated and published as SARS monographs 3 and 20. A wide range of finds are discussed in detail by the many contributors to the volume along with reports on the bioarchaeological material.

PRICE : £24 / Society members £22 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Road Archaeology in the Middle Nile Road Archaeology Vols 1 + 2
by various authors

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London
See details of individual volumes listed separately above

Both volumes devoted to the results of the survey and excavations conducted along the Challenge Road. The first volume reports on the survey, the second excavations of a number of sites including the small amount of work undertaken in the cemetery at Gabati which was later fully excavated and published as SARS monographs 3 and 20. Volume 2 also includes detailed reports on the finds by many contributors along with reports on the bioarchaeological material.

PRICE : £36 / Society members £32 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

A Kerma Ancien Cemetery in the Northern Dongola Reach A Kerma Ancien Cemetery in the Northern Dongola Reach
Excavations at Site H29
by D. A. Welsby with contributions by P. Bangsgaard, C. Cartwright, P. Ryan, I. Welsby Sjöström and R. Whiting

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London, 2018
xviii + 224 pages, 51 tables, 107 plates, 180 figures
ISBN 978 1 78491 931 3

This volume is the final report on the excavations of a Kerma Ancien cemetery discovered by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society during its Northern Dongola Reach Survey conducted between 1993 and 1997. It is one of the very few cemeteries of this date to have been fully excavated and provides interesting data on funerary culture as practised in a rural environment, to be compared with the extensive information available from investigations of the cemetery associated with the metropolis of Kerma 100km to the north. It includes a range of specialist reports on all categories of artefacts recovered (small finds – Derek Welsby; pottery – Isabella Welsby Sjöström) as well as on the physical anthropology (Rebecca Whiting), archaeobotany (Caroline Cartwright and Philippa Ryan) and archaeozoology (Pernille Bangsgaard).

PRICE : £35 / Society members £30 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Travelling the Korosko Road Travelling the Korosko Road
Archaeological Exploration in Sudan’s Eastern Desert
edited by W. Vivian Davies and D.A. Welsby, with contributions by Alfredo Castiglione, Angelo Castiglione, Mahmoud Suliman Bashir, Andrea Manzo, Serena Massa, Francesco M. Rega, Philippe Ruffieux and Donatella Usai

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society and Archaeopress, London, 2020
viii + 252 pages, 3 tables, 493 plates, 74 figures (colour throughout)
ISBN 978 1 78969 803 9

This text publishes 30 years of archaeological exploration in the Sudanese Eastern Desert. The volume is divided into two parts. The first section details the pioneering work by Alfredo and Angelo Castiglione with the Centro Ricerche sul Deserto Orientale (CeRDO) along the Korosko Road between 1989-2006. Their records of the rich archaeological landscape in the Eastern Desert are particularly valuable now as many sites have been damaged or destroyed in the intervening years. The second section outlines a short season of documentation by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society in 2013, mapping the area and recording the numerous rock inscriptions identified along the Korosko Road, mostly relating to Pharaonic colonial gold-working processes and expeditions as well as the recording and study of identified archaeological material, particularly the ceramics.

PRICE : £60 / Society members £50 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

The Pharaonic Sites The Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, 1963-69
The Pharaonic Sites
by David N. Edwards, Anthony J. Mills with contributions by Lauriane Mielle, W. Vivian Davies

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication 23, London, 2020
ix + 468 pages, 2 tables, 812 plates (16 plates in colour)
ISBN 978 1 78969 649 3

This text brings to publication the work carried out by the Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, detailing the Nubian Rescue Campaign survey and excavation work between the Dal and Second Cataracts between 1963 and 1969. Most of this area has now been lost to flooding, and is crucial for understanding relationships between Lower, Middle, and Upper Nubia.

PRICE : £75 / Society members £60 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

Down to Earth ArchaeologyDown to Earth Archaeology

by William Y. Adams

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication 25, London, 2022
244 pages, 23 plates, 29 figures, 1 map (colour throughout)
ISBN 978 1 80327 229 0

This text collects sixteen archaeological papers by Professor William Y. Adams, encompassing a wide range of topics. These were originally published in a limited way and were chosen by the author to reach a wider readership than originally. Each has an introductory comment by the author and deals with seminal topics from across his career, including reflections on his work with the UNESCO International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia and the application of theoretical and typological models to his excavations in Nubia.

PRICE : £59 / Society members £49 … plus postage and packaging … ORDER FORM

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