Current research and excavations
The Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project (JBAP) began in 2016. Our archaeological research is focused on understanding Jebel Barkal as an ancient city—the “lost city” of Napata. Previous work at the site has focused on its pyramids, temples, and palaces. Yet despite 200 years of attention from travelers, historians, and archaeologists, there have been no sustained efforts to locate the city that supported the temples and palaces at the site until now.
Our team is also beginning a program of conservation of the temple area of the site.
We are doing this work in collaboration with the local community in the town of Kareima and the villages of Upper Jebel Barkal (Barkal Fowq) and Lower Jebel Barkal (Barkal Tahet).
Image: Painted chapel wall from the pyramid of Queen Nawidemak at Jebel Barkal. Documented by the Royal Prussian Expedition directed by Richard Lepsius in 1844 but no longer preserved.
Excavations 2016-2023
In our first work at the site, we identified a promising area called the “East Mound” using magnetic gradiometry (read our 2016 article on this below), and subsequently completed a geophysical survey of that area in 2018. We had two short excavation seasons in 2019 and 2020.
The uppermost levels of the East Mound date to the 1st century BCE / 1st century CE—the “Meroitic” period when Kush was in conflict with and also traded with Roman Egypt. This level of the city would have been occupied at the same time as the palace of King Natakamani excavated by our Italian colleagues working in a different part of the site. It is also contemporary with a group of royal pyramid burials, including several of queens who were sole rulers of Kush. We have also found hints of earlier occupation on the East Mound. Investigations of the city in the Meroitic and earlier periods will be the focus of future seasons.
For a report on the 2016 investigation, please see our publication: “Settlement in the Heartland of Napatan Kush: Preliminary Results of Magnetic Gradiometry at El-Kurru, Jebel Barkal and Sanam” in the 2016 volume, Sudan & Nubia 20: 50-56.
For a full report on the results of of excavation from 2018-23, please see our publication: “Jebel Barkal 2018-2023: New Research on the Napatan and Meroitic City” in the 2025 volume, Sudan & Nubia 28: 73-98.
Readers might also be interested in the New Scientist article related to these excavations.
Excavations 2025
*Coming soon*
