ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH SOUTH OF OMDURMAN A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ON CERAMIC AND LITHIC MATERIALS FROM lO-X-6 MULTISTRATIFIED MOUND SITE ALONG THE WESTERN BANK OF THE WHITE NILE IN CENTRAL SUDANI Donatella USAI and Sandro SALVATORI IOKm o - Archaeological research in the Sudan involves a large area from north to south, with the unfortunate exclusion of the more southern regions, about which we know little. In Central Sudan prehistoric studies saw their birth with the excavation of the Khartoum Hospital Mesolithic site (Arkell 1949). However archaeological activity in Central Sudan has been slowing down, in the last years, because of the Fourth Cataract Merowe Dam project. Sudanese and foreign archaeological missions are working quickly to study the area before it is flooded or overcome by development. Central Sudan is a key area for com- prehending the Sudanese pottery-bearing- Mesolithic prehistoric phase and the later adoption of a productive economy. Despite former investigation activities in the area, many crucial historical problems from the 3rd, 2nd and 1st millennium BC remain unsolved. The Is.LA.O. project, starting four years ago, aims at covering the area south of Omdurman 2 . Its goals are to help protect the archaeological heritage of the region and to provide clues to the above-mentioned problems. Our first task in the area consisted of an intensive survey to evaluate the archaeo- logical potential and environmental setting. So far almost 150 sites have been located, spanning from the Early Palaeolithic to the Early Islamic periods (Usai 2003. n.d: Usai & Salvatori 2002, n.d.) (fig. 1). Fig. 1 Map of the eastern sector of the El Salha survey, with major archaeological sites located along the White Nile. The El Salha Project is an Is.LA.O. mission suppOlted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the sponsorship of GASID and AREAOFFICE of Turin. The 2002 campaign was also funded by the Michela Schiff Giorgini Foundation. The mission members in the three past years were Donatella Usai, Sandro Salvatori, Agnese Cavallari. Giangiacomo Contini. Federica Crivellaro, Stefano Tuzzato, Riccardo Ercolino, Elisabetta Fasson, Amal Awad Mukhtar Nasir, Amal Gaballa. Mortada Bushara, Lisa Berni, Susi D'Amato, Roberto Pedrelti, Mauro Cremaschi and Andrea Zerboni. 2 The area under the Is.I.A.O. concession is a strip of 35 x5 km from the White Nile to the lebels to the west. Archiologie du Nil Moyen, Vol. 10,2006. 203