Tim Kendall and El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed
A great place to start learning more about Jebel Barkal, its place in history, and the history of excavations at the site are overview essays written by Timothy Kendall. From 1986 to 2018, Tim directed archaeological research at Jebel Barkal, initially on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and later as a project of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) of Sudan with El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed. He had taken over the area of the site excavated by George Reisner in 1916-1920 and as a result of archival research and long experience of fieldwork, he developed a website with pages that detailed the history and significance of the site. That website is no longer online, but he and El-Hassan have put much of this information into Jebel Barkal Visitor’s Guide. This handbook is designed for visitors to the site, but it’s useful for anyone who’s interested.
Finally, two of *many* articles by Tim and El-Hassan about Jebel Barkal that might be useful:
Kendall, Timothy (1997), “Excavations at Gebel Barkal, 1996. Report of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Sudan Mission.” Kush 17 :320-54. (PDF of a section of the volume available online).
Kendall, Timothy and El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed (2017), “Jebel Barkal in the New Kingdom: An Emerging Picture.” In Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived Experience, Pharaonic Control and Indigenous Traditions, edited by Neal Spencer, Anna Stevens, and Michaela Binder, pp. 155-88. British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan 3. Leuven: Peeters.
George Reisner (b. 1867 d. 1942)
There are many specialized publications about the site. Some of George Reisner’s original publications, from his excavations of 1916-1920, are available online:
– Reisner, George A. (1917), “The Barkal Temples in 1916,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 4(4):213-27 (and continued in the same journal in 1918 and 1920).
– Reisner, George A. (1931), “Inscribed Monuments from Gebel Barkal.” Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 66:76-100 (and continued in the same journal in 1933 and 1934).
Dows Dunham (b. 1890 d. 1984)
Reisner’s assistant Dows Dunham made great efforts to organize and publish the finds from Reisner’s excavations in a series of volumes, some of which have recently been made available online:
– Chapman, Suzanne E. and Dows Dunham (1952), Decorated Chapels of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal. Royal Cemeteries of Kush 3. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.
– Dunham, Dows (1957), Royal Tombs at Meroë and Barkal. Royal Cemeteries of Kush 4. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.
– Dunham, Dows (1970), The Barkal Temples. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.
Recent Publications
More recent work has been published by our own project (the Jebel Barkal Archaeological Project, co-directed by Geoff Emberling and Sami Elamin), by the American-Sudanese team directed by Tim Kendall from 1986-2018 (with El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed being co-director from 2014), by the Italian team working on the Natakamani palace, currently directed by Emanuele Ciampini, and by a Spanish team that has now completed its work.
Selected publications (with a preference for publications available online) are given here:
The JBAP team
Bradshaw, Rebecca, Abulgasim, T, Davis, S, Dafalla, E, Elamin, S, Mohamed, E, and Emberling, G (2025), “Community-Engaged Conservation at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jebel Barkal, Sudan“. In S. Mithen, M. A. Rabbani and M. Rabbani (eds.), Cultural Heritage, Community Engagement and Sustainable Tourism: Archaeological Sites in the Global South. Routledge.
Emberling, Geoff, Skuldbøl, T., Mohamed, E., Elamin, S., Tucker, G., Wolf, P., Ullrich, B., Davis, S., Büchner–Matthews, S., Bagińska, D., Bradshaw, R., Abulgasim, T., Peeters, J., Winkels, T., Redding, R., den Hollander, A., Fuller, D.Q., Breidenstein, A., Woodcock, T.B., and Hallof, J., (2025), “Jebel Barkal 2018–2023: New research on the Napatan and Meroitic city.” Sudan & Nubia 28: pp. 78-98.
*ARABIC TRANSLATION AVAILABLE HERE. Translation by El Hassan Ahmed Mohamed.
Emberling, Geoff (2024), “City Beneath the Sand: Excavating the Ancient Settlement at Jebel Barkal, Sudan“. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Newsletter, pp. 18-22.
Davis, Suzanne and Emberling, G., (2023), “Collaborative Archaeology and Conservation at Jebel Barkal: Protecting Heritage during the Civil War in Sudan“. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Newsletter, pp. 7-9.
Emberling, G., (2021), “Newsletter”. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Newsletter.
Tucker, Gregory and Emberling, G., (2016), “Settlement in the Heartland of Napatan Kush: Preliminary Results of Magnetic Gradiometry at El-Kurru, Jebel Barkal and Sanam,” Sudan & Nubia 20: pp. 50-56.
University of Dongola
Muhammad Fath al-Rahman Ahmed Idris (2016) “Rescue excavations at Jebel Barkal by Dongola University’s Department of Archaeology (Seasons 14 and 15)“. Translated to English from the Arabic by Tohamy Abulgasim in 2025 in Sudan & Nubia 28: 99-109.
Italian team
Ciampini, Emanuele (2020), “The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2019.” Online.
Taurino, Salvatore (2018), “Glazed Terracotta Decorations from the Palace of Natakamani (B1500) at Napata.” In Current Research in Egyptology 2017, ed. Ilaria Incordino et al., pp. 210-225. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Maria Concetta Laurenti and Eglal Mohamed Osman El Malik ed. (2021), Restoring the Colours of the Goddess: The Conservation Project of the Temple of Mut at Jebel Barkal. Rome: Gangemi.
Francesca Iannarilli, Federica Pancin, Silvia Callegher, and Salvatore Taurino (2022), Jebel Barkal. Half a century of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan. Rome: Gangemi.
Spanish team
Berenguer, Francesca (1997), “Report of the First Season at Gebel Barkal Necropolis, 1995,” Kush 17:108-36. (PDF of a section of the volume available online)
Diaz-de-Cerio, Montserrat (2018), “A New Meroitic Complex–Abasseya Project (Karima, Sudan),” in Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, ed. Matthieu Honegger, pp. 449-55. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 273. Leuven: Peeters.
Finally, there are numerous interpretations and studies of Jebel Barkal and its significance. Here is a small selection.
Abbas, Baloula .M.B. (2020). Intangible Cultural Heritage around Jebel Elbarkal World Cultural Heritage Site. Unpublished booklet.
Osman, F. (2004). Jebel Barkal: Past and Present. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Society of Nubian Studies, 1998. Boston: Northeastern University.
Török, László (2009), Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 BC-AD 500. Probleme der Ägyptologie 29. Leiden: Brill.
Yellin, Janice (2014), “The Chronology and Attribution of Royal Pyramids at Meroe and Gebel Barkal.” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 6(1):76-88.
