They young scientists and the students of the Adam Mickiewicz University commence archaeological works in the Nile Valley in Sudan. The objective of their works is the Christian fortresses, which were built in this area ages ago.

The Sudan Fortresses Project is a combination of the scientific research with a great adventure. On the one hand it is an attempt to understand people who used to erect and use defensive buildings in the past. On the other hand it is a travel over the inaccessible areas of the country in which unexpected situations may happen and solve in a way completely incomprehensible for a European.

The objective of the research is to recognize the fortified architectural complex in the area of the Fifth and Sixth Cataract and between them. The scientists from Poznan will be looking for fortresses which are placed along the 400-kilometer long part of the Nile in central Sudan. The Sudan Fortresses is a project which enables Polish students, archaeologists, ethnologists and geologists to familiarize with the rich history of the area of the Fifth and Sixth Cataract of the Nile. The scientists will be exploring the fortresses which were built in the times of medieval Makuria and Alva, which have never been analysed in detail yet. Besides the fortresses, the archaeologists will take under observation the burrow burial grounds at the Souani-al-Songour hills.

First the scientists will conduct works in places which are unknown from the literature or only mentioned there. All complexes, irrespective of the period of functioning, will be the object of the expedition.

The scientists from Poznan will also check the possibilities of the dating of the fortified complexes basing on the Nile overflows. It is an attempt to combine the three fields of the science. On the one hand a geomorphologists will analyze the layers accumulated due to the Nile overflows (the second/the third period of the research) to make an attempt to determine the sequences and the kind of the Nile overflows. At the same time, during the exploring of all complexes, the archaeologists will be searching for the overflows traces in the form of the ruins or the reconstruction phase of the fortification parts which were placed lower. The geodetic measurements in each case will be compared to the current Nile level. On the last stage the scientists will compare the data generated in this way to the information on the Nile overflows which have been published.

The archaeological context of each fortified complex will be analyzed too. It may allow asking questions, among others of the function of these places or the utilization of the natural resources by the people who used to live in these complexes or locally (e.g. agriculture, mining of the resources).

In macro-scale the attempt will be made to search for the settlers? models of the fortified complexes or in particular to search for an answer to the question: why there are a lot of such complexes in some places and somewhere else they are found occasionally. It is then necessary to refer to the written material, which in connection with the attempt to analyze the administrative and military system of this area over the period of functioning of the successive kingdoms, empires, sultanates and states.

The first seven-person group of the academics and AMU students have gone by plane to Sudan. The first stage of works will last till the half of February 2011. The next stages are anticipated to take place in January 2012 and February 2013. However the alternative research continuation depends on the sources of financing of the whole programme.