A ridge-top site about 130 km north-west of El Fasher with several hundred brick and stone buildings and terraces, a stone wall three to four kilometres long, a building that may be a mosque, a large public building and a hilltop group that may be a palace.
Tradition makes it the capital of the last Tunjur king (much later); Christian Nubian sherds (datable from the sixth century to about 1100) were found in a brick building called a monastery; an iron object from a grave gave a radiocarbon date of 1500 plus or minus 200 years before present. Whether anyone lived there on 1 January 1200 is not known. Position approximate.
Who holds it
- Title
- Ruined or inhabited site; builders debated
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Walls and castle
A stone wall three to four kilometres long along the ridges.
Where the sources disagree
- The regional brief asks to check Ain Farah's date: it is not settled; the Christian sherds and the early radiocarbon date argue for occupation before the Tunjur, but nothing pins 1200.
Evidence: A few surveys and one radiocarbon date.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Ain Farah
- DAI Entangled Africa blog: InterLINK workshop on Kordofan and Darfur (Zankor in the upper Wadi al-Milk; Ain Farah debated)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.