The first excavation season of the project “UMMA – Urban Metamorphosis of the community of a Medieval African capital city” has just begun. It is founded by a European Research Council Starting Grant awarded to Dr Artur Obłuski from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw (PCMA UW). It involves a 5-year program of excavations at Dongola, Sudan. This year’s fieldwork season, directed by Dr Obłuski and Dr Dorota Dzierzbicka (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw) will last four months. In all, the team will spend 16 months in the field.

The team of researchers assembled by Dr Obłuski has an interdisciplinary character. It consists of archaeologists, epigraphers, documentalists and pottery specialists. During its work in Dongola it will also take advantage of the latest scientific methods in cooperation with specialists in the sciences, such as physics, biology and chemistry.
The “UMMA” project aims at analyzing the transformation process of the city of Dongola from an important Christian centre, the capital of the kingdom of Makuria, into a Muslim city.