As 2025 draws to a close, we’ve taken time to reflect on a year of remarkable achievements, inspiring collaborations, and meaningful progress for the Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project. Despite challenges on the ground in Sudan, our team has been by far the most active international project in Sudan during the conflict, in terms of providing support for Sudanese colleagues, doing site management and protection, and advancing research.
Here’s a wrap-up of project highlights from JBAP in 2025, including fieldwork successes, new funding, global media features, publications, and reasons we’re excited about what’s ahead in 2026.
1. A successful April field season
Our April 2025 excavation season, carried out by our incredible Sudanese field team and supported remotely by international colleagues, was a major success, yielding new data on city planning and site formation at Jebel Barkal.
You can read more about it on our website here, and in newsletters featured here.
2. Funding transitions
2025 saw the cancellation of our grant from the US State Department and the cancellation of our grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities by the Trump administration, but we also secured new sponsorship through the Klinsky Expeditions program, enabling us to continue fieldwork and support local team members. We are also extremely grateful for a major gift from Roger and Ann Cogswell that has allowed us to continue employ local archaeologists and community members for site protection, maintenance, and outreach activities.
You can read about it here and elsewhere on our blog.
3. New publications from the team
JBAP scholars published multiple pieces this year, including:
- A co-edited Routledge chapter on community-engaged conservation – which has already been read over 60 times on ResearchGate.
- A feature in the New Scientist.
- A major Sudan & Nubia article summarizing five years of research at Jebel Barkal – which earned a Research Interest Score higher than 94% of research items published in 2025.
- An article in Antiquity.
At least six additional articles have been submitted or will be very soon, and we have more plans for 2026.
4. Featured in the international news
Our work, and the broader story of archaeology during conflict in Sudan, was featured in a front-page Financial Times Life & Arts article. JBAP team members have also been quoted in international articles by the Associated Press, the BBC and the Art Newspaper.
Read about them here.
5. Interviews, talks and conferences
Throughout 2025, team members have given numerous lectures and interviews, presenting JBAP research at conferences and public events, reinforcing our role as global thought leaders in community-engaged archaeology.
Read about them here.
6. New research on ancient landscapes
Our blog posts from the autumn, like “Drilling into time: How we read the ancient landscape of Jebel Barkal”, remind us that archaeology extends far beyond trenches into environmental science and long-term landscape change.
7. Everyday archaeology
Our Sudanese colleagues and collaborators in Karima have continued doing the very essential heritage management work and everyday archaeological tasks. This includes monitoring and protection of world heritage through daily communication with the local community and administration but also includes the cleaning of regular accumulating garbage from the site, the hand sieving of old excavation dumps. Sami Elamin’s Facebook page is a great way of keeping up with this work – and will itself be the focus of our blog in the new year.
Looking ahead to 2026
Next year promises to be an exciting year for JBAP! Here’s what’s on the horizon:
- Expanded field excavations, including plans to explore newly identified (and potentially exciting) features with support from our drone/LiDAR analyses.
- New publications and journal submissions based on 2025 field data.
- More conferences! We’ve just submitted a whopping 11 abstracts to the International Society for Nubian Studies (ISNS) conference which will take place in Munich in September 2026!
- Continued training and community engagement programs for local heritage stewards and guides.
- More public outreach, including talks, interviews, and multimedia features that extend our reach.
As ever, none of this would be possible without the passion, expertise, and resilience of our incredible team – and the continued support of our partners, funders, and global community of readers and collaborators.
Here’s to more in 2026!
Happy holidays from the JBAP team!
