In a recent article in this journal Mr O. G. S. Crawford referred to the people of the Sudan as a people without a history, and he drew attention to the possibilities of filling some of the lacunae in their history by the excavation of sites south of Khartoum especially along the White Nile. It is, of course, true, as the responsible authorities are well aware, that a good deal of exploration remains to be done in the Sudan and awaits only the necessary funds. It is probable, also, that many ancient village sites in the area between the Blue and White Niles now lie beneath the cotton fields of the Gezira Irrigation Scheme. It is therefore the more unfortunate that some archaeological discoveries which have been made have either been inadequately published or their publication has been inordinately delayed.In this latter respect archaeology has been singularly unfortunate in the district round Sennar, on the Blue Nile, a region which appears to have been important throughout the history of the Sudan. It is doubtful if the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom penetrated as far south as this, though their descendants may have done so in New Kingdom times ; but the area was certainly a centre of civilization in the heyday of the Meroitic kingdom, about the beginning of the Christian era, and, nearer our own times, it was the headquarters of the powerful Fung kings of the 16th to 18th centuries.
Passing from the Middle to the New Kingdom: A Senet Board in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum