Mohamed Albdri Sliman Bashir

I'm interested in the study of settlement patterns and ancient urbanisation as a key method for understanding past human activities, the adaptation of societies to the environment, and cultural, economic and political relationships within societies and between cultures. In particular, my research focuses on the Kingdom of Kush (c. 1000 BC - 350 AD) in present-day Sudan as an example of early Iron Age state societies in Africa.

I received my B.A. (2011), M.A. (2015) and PhD. (2018) in archaeology from the University of Khartoum, Sudan.

I have extensive fieldwork experience and serve as field director for the three main archaeological projects in my department between 2016 and 2023. One project involved the northern environs of ancient Meroe, where I led excavations in Wadi el-Dan north of ancient Meroe, the other as part of the ongoing Mahas Survey project on the 'The Historical Town of Nauri'," and the last at Kedurma, where we received funding from various institutions, including National Geographic Society 2020, the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) 2021-2022, the Michela Schiff Giorgini Foundation 2022, and the Ministry of Higher Education in Sudan 2019, 2022.

I am currently a full-time research fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University.

My current research focuses on the study of ancient population dynamics and the evolution and shift of burial patterns over time in Nubia. To do this, I combine traditional analytical methods of archaeology with molecular-level analyses, such as ancient DNA analysis, as well as interviews with living people, to gain the fullest possible understanding of the past and present history of this region.