I’ve just got back from a really intense month of fieldwork in Sudan.

Our field season was from 5th March to 2nd April 2026. As well as Dr. Mohamed Eltoum (NCAM inspector), our team was joined for a few days by Mohammed Abbas (NCAM Jebel Barkal, drone pilot), Abd el-Magid Mahmoud Abd el-Rahman (NCAM Dongola) and Majhoub Ebrahim (drone pilot). Also, Huda Magzoub, my former NCAM inspector, came by and was with us from 26th March to 2nd April. We stayed in our dig house in Ginis and we’re really grateful to Mr Mohammed Khater Bashir, who was a great cook, and Mr Magzoub Hassan Mohammed, who was a great driver and head of logistics. We’d also like to say a big thank you to our workman and boatman Sameer Ali Saleh and our workman and police officer Mohammed Osman.

Thanks to Majhoub Ebrahim, we’ve got a short video about our work in Attab and Ginis. It was shown on Sudanese TV and is now available on the YouTube channel of Amwaj Al-Sabah Media Services.

There are two main things we wanted to get across: first, northern Sudan is safe for foreigners to work and second, especially in these challenging times of war and increased illegal gold mining, it’s really important that international missions work together with the local authorities to protect the rich cultural heritage of Sudan.

I’m really thankful that, with my friends and colleagues from NCAM, we managed to put on such a successful season, even though things are still tough in Sudan.