Wad ban Naga

Wad ban Naga is an urban site of the Meroitic period (300 BC to 350 AD), situated about 120 kilometres north of present-day Khartoum on the eastern bank of the Nile. Its main monument is the remains of a royal palace, which was possibly built by the Meroitic Queen Amanishakheto. The preserved ground floor has many elongated narrow rooms, which have been identified as storerooms. The floor that once stood above them has been completely lost. Close-by are the ruins of several temples and other buildings, among them an enigmatic circular structure with walls still standing up to 3 metres high. One of the temples preserves the bases of columns in the shape of the god Bes.

Mud brick was the prevalent building material at Wad ban Naga, and the walls were subsequently plastered. Preservation of the individual structures is poor, and their conservation is an ongoing challenge. The remains of a temple to the goddess Isis, which were still visible in the 19th century, have since vanished. A barge pedestal, which was discovered in the temple by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1844, now resides in Berlin. The pedestal contained Meroitic script along with Hieroglyphic Egyptian which helped Francis Llewellyn Griffith to identify the phonetic values of the Meroitic letters in 1911.

orth and south of the settlement site there are extended cemeteries with mound graves which appear to belong to the post-Meroitic period.