The region east of the Sudanese Nile, often known as the ‘Atbai’, is a harsh desert region punctuated by rocky hills, vast sandy deserts, and numerous gold mines. Yet despite the ‘peripheral’ nature of this region far away from the Nile River, historical and archaeological investigations, most notably those of Linant de Bellefonds, Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, as well as the Sudan Archaeological Research Society, have revealed that this region was anything but peripheral and rather was a vital part of the political and economic map of ancient Northeast Africa. Over the millennia, the region was the home to nomads known as the Medjay and the Blemmyes who often raided the Nile and harassed goldmining expeditions. Many desert routes criss-crossed the deserts creating a vast network of tracks that enabled trade and Muslim pilgrims from the Red Sea to route the Nile. Nomadic camps from numerous periods demonstrate that the Atbai deserts were settled, providing a complexity to this region seldom witnessed in deserts in Egypt and Sudan. Since 2018, a fieldwork project called the Atbai Survey has aimed to document the threatened archaeological heritage of this region, discovering numerous sites such as goldmines, nomadic settlements, and rock art sites. A further goal of this work is to reorientate the history and archaeology of the local nomadic groups in their proper place, not just telling the story of the desert from the perspective of Ancient Egypt or Kush. This presentation will present some of the new discoveries and excavations of the Atbai Survey and shed new light on the indigenous and Egyptian history of this desert.

Introduction: Christian Greco, Director of the Museo Egizio.


Julien Cooper studied for a PhD at Maccquarie University, Sydney, investigating the peripheral geography of the Red Sea region as found in Ancient Egyptian texts of the Pharaonic period. Since then, Julien has undertaken postdoctoral fellowships at Oxford University as well as Yale, and now works as an Assistant Professor teaching Egyptology at United International College, Zhuhai (China). Since 2015, Julien has participated on epigraphic surveys with the Sudan Archaeological Research Society and has directed a project in the Eastern Desert of Sudan since 2018. His research interests are dedicated to the peripheral geography of the Egyptian and Kushite states and employ a variety of methodologies, including epigraphic and archaeological analyses, studies of loanwords and language contact as well as philological analysis and historical reconstruction.