
News & Events
Kush, Jebel Barkal, and JBAP in the news
“Culture workers feel the pain of Sudan’s endless civil war” by Sarvy Geranpayeh. The Art Newspaper. July 2025. (Ft. interview with Sami Elamin)
JBAP RESEARCH “Excavation in Sudan shows Roman Empire wasn’t as mighty as it claimed” by Colin Barras. New Scientist. April 2025. (Ft. interviews with Geoff Emberling, Sami Elamin, Tim Skuldbøl and Rebecca Bradshaw)
“As Sudan’s civil war rages on, its heritage is under siege” by Sarvy Geranpayeh. The Art Newspaper. February 2025. (Ft. interview with Geoff Emberling)
“Sudan’s war devastates cultural heritage as rival generals vie for power” by Rebecca Bradshaw. Al-Monitor. June 2024. (Ft. interviews with Sami Elamin, Suzanne Davis and Tohamy Abulgasim)
“Female Archaeologists Set to Dominate Field in Sudan” by Henry Wilkins. Voice of America. April 2023.
“These mighty pyramids were built by one of Africa’s earliest civilizations” by Emma Thomson. National Geographic. December 2022.
“Young Sudanese archaeologists dig up history as ‘west knows best’ era ends” by Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih. The Guardian. December 2022.
“The Rise, Fall and Underestimated Rule of Kush” by Joshua Learn. Discover Magazine. June 2022. (Ft. interview with Geoff Emberling)
“Sudan’s archaeological treasures in danger“. France 24. April 2021.
“Glimpses of Sudan’s Forgotten Pyramids” by Alessio Mamo. New York Times. March 2021. (Ft. interview with Geoff Emberling)
“In the Land of Kush” by Isma’il Kushkush. Smithsonian Magazine. September 2020. (Ft. interview with Geoff Emberling)
JBAP RESEARCH “Temple graffiti reveals stories from ancient Sudan” by Suzanne Davis and Geoff Emberling. The Conversation. September 2019.
Past events
Geoff Emberling
TALK “Jebel Barkal as a Meroitic Urban Center of Kush”, Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS) W. Y. Adams Colloquium, Sudan: Past and Present 2025, University of Cambridge, 17 May 2025.
TALK “Digging Deeper: The Klinsky Expeditions“, University of Michigan, 17 April 2025.
TALK “Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile”, Eugene Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, 10 April 2025. *Geoff as 2024/25 Joukowsky Lecturer*
TALK “Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile”, Portland Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, 8 April 2025. *Geoff as 2024/25 Joukowsky Lecturer*
TALK “Archaeology, its Colonial Past, and its Collaborative Future: A Community Project in El-Kurru, Northern Sudan“, Richmond Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, 20 March 2025. *Geoff as 2024/25 Joukowsky Lecturer*
TALK “Archaeology and Heritage During the Civil War in Sudan: What Can We Do?“, ASOR, 8 January 2025.
TALK “Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile“, Rockford Society of Archaeological Institute of America, 22 October 2024. *Geoff as 2024/25 Joukowsky Lecturer*
TALK “Four Seasons of New Fieldwork (2019-2023) at Jebel Barkal and Reflections on ‘Capital Cities’ in Ancient Kush“. DiverseNile Project, University of Munich. 17 October 2023.
TALK “Archaeology, Heritage, and the Civil War in Sudan”, The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 6 October 2023.
TALK “New Perspectives on the African Empire of Kush: Excavation at Jebel Barkal“, Northern California ARCE, 8 May 2023.
TALK “Discovering a Lost Nubian City: Archaeology of Jebel Barkal, Sudan“, Getty Museum, 3 December 2022.
TALK “Collaborative Archaeology of Kush in Northern Sudan: Recent Work around Jebel Barkal“, Stanford University’s Archaeology Center, 4 May 2022.
PODCAST “Ancient Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush“, An Interview with Geoff Emberling. Tides of History via Wondery, 7 October 2021.
TALK “What happened to the lost Kingdom of Kush?“, Ted-Ed, 7 October 2021.
Sami Elamin
TV Sami recently appeared on Sudan TV to talk about the work the team is doing in Jebel Barkal (in Arabic).
TALK “Community Engagement Activities during the Wartime: Jebel Barkal and the Napatan Region World Heritage Sites, Northern State, Sudan“, AmSARC, 4 September 2024.
Geoff Emberling and Suzanne Davis
TALK “Community Archaeology and Conservation in Sudan“, The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, 12 May 2023.
Tohamy Abulgasim
TALK “Trowels and Tensions: Practicing Archaeology in Wartime Sudan“, American Sudanese Archaeological Research Center, 25 June 2025.
TV/NEWSPAPER Tohamy recently appeared in national newspapers and on Sudan TV to talk about the work the team are doing in Jebel Barkal (in Arabic).
TALK “Eyes in the sky, feet on the ground: evaluating remote sensing and archaeology in in times of conflict”, Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS) W. Y. Adams Colloquium, Sudan: Past and Present 2025, University of Cambridge, 17 May 2025.
TALK “Don’t Think for Us; Think with Us”: Thoughts on Community Archaeology Projects in Sudan” at Envisioning Decolonial Futures through Archaeology Conference, University of Cambridge, 23-25 October 2024.
Rebecca Bradshaw
TALK “Community-engaged conservation during conflict: Recent work at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jebel Barkal” at The State of Heritage in Sudan Seminar and Memorial Lecture in Honour of Prof Ibrahim Musa, McDonald Institute Seminar Room, University of Cambridge, 23 May 2024.
Pawel Wolf
TALK “A Kushite agro-pastoral settlement complex in Shaqadud near Wadi Awatib, central Sudan”, Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS) W. Y. Adams Colloquium, Sudan: Past and Present 2025, University of Cambridge, 17 May 2025.
Kate Rose
TALK “Kandakes of the Past and Present: A Study of Queenship and Power in Ancient Kush, mid-8th century BCE”, Queen: Reimagining Power from Antiquity to the Present conference, NYU Gallatin, 23-24 September 2021.
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Latest Posts
- From GPR to LiDAR – JBAP combines tech with excavations to deepen our understanding of ancient NapataAs you may recall, the Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project was the subject of a 2023 National Geographic episode of “Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin“.One of the many great things about being a part of this project was that the Nat Geo team collected a great deal of data that we are still analyzing, even… Read more: From GPR to LiDAR – JBAP combines tech with excavations to deepen our understanding of ancient Napata
- New photography book shows off Barkal’s beautyAnd now for something a bit different. Long-term JBAP team member Henrik Brahe has recently released his new photography book, “The Middle East: An Odyssey“, sponsored by the Danish Institute in Damascus and University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. A collection of more than 20 years of work in the Middle East and North… Read more: New photography book shows off Barkal’s beauty
- New Routledge publication by JBAP team members!We’re really pleased to alert JBAP website subscribers to a new paper of ours that’s just been published by Routledge! Titled “Community-Engaged Archaeology at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jebel Barkal, Sudan“, the paper is the result of a writing collaboration between JBAP team members Rebecca Bradshaw, Tohamy Abulgasim, Suzanne Davis, Elmontaser Dafalla, Sami… Read more: New Routledge publication by JBAP team members!
- Upcoming AmSARC talk about recent Barkal excavationsJoin us online! On Wednesday 25 June, JBAP team member Tohamy Abulgasim will give a talk for the American Sudanese Archaeological Research Center. Titled, “Trowels and Tensions: Practicing Archaeology in Wartime Sudan”, Tohamy will talk about the preliminary results of the recent excavations he directed at Jebel Barkal between March and May, as well as the more… Read more: Upcoming AmSARC talk about recent Barkal excavations
- JBAP team members to present at leading Sudan colloquiumJoin us in person or online! On Saturday 17 May, JBAP team members Geoff Emberling, Tohamy Abulgasim and Pawel Wolf will be giving talks at the Sudan Archaeological Research Society’s W. Y. Adams Colloquium, Sudan: Past and Present 2025. Showing off the team’s expertise not only in the archaeology of Jebel Barkal, but of all… Read more: JBAP team members to present at leading Sudan colloquium