Forts of North Omdurman

The Forts of North Omdurman volume presents research aimed at establishing when and why a group of nine forts were built in Upper Nubia (modern Sudan). These defences resemble late Roman fortlets commonly found in the Egyptian Eastern Desert and elsewhere in the Roman Empire. The nine forts were irregularly positioned within a 550km section of the Middle Nile Valley, a land which was never subject to Roman authority. Excavations were conducted at the three southernmost forts situated on the outskirts of modern Omdurman. The methodology chosen was designed to define the possible chronological limits of the defences and to identify the remains left by the first settlers. The chapters include a detailed analysis of the forts' architecture, stratigraphy, pottery, beads, plaster, animal and plant remains supplemented by a series of radiocarbon dates. The result is a new insight into the dynamic beginnings of the forts and the challenges faced by the rulers of the medieval Kingdom of Alwa in the 6th and 7th centuries AD.