The palace building The major discovery of the first excavation season of the Louvre Museum in Muweis (fig. 1), in 2007, was that of a Meroitic palace in the southern part of the site. 2 The large ruin had already been identified in 1969 and protected thereafter, but it remained of an undefined nature due to the lack of excavations. The survey performed by A. Sokari and P. Lenoble pointed out in 2003 3 that here lay an important structure, as shown by the dense cover of red bricks, the presence of small black ferricrete sandstone slabs and white lime plaster fragments. Thanks to the potsherds collected on the surface and those coming from ditches recently dug into the mound, they proposed to date the monument to the Classical or Late Meroitic period. During the surface clearings performed by the present mission in January 2007, mud-brick walls 1.5 to 1.7 m large (four bricks of 340 × 370 mm) soon began to appear. The strategy adopted then and later consisted in following the walls both on the top and at the foot of the 4 m high mound.

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The Mouweiss site (Shendi area, about 250 km North of Khartoum) is a Nilotic city of the Meroitic period (4th century BCE to 4th century CE), which the Louvre Museum (Paris) began to excavate in 2007. This was a large settlement that included a palace, which was later destroyed. The ruined walls of the palace also housed a medieval necropolis. About thirty rather crudely fashioned pits dug directly into the rubble of the palace were excavated. Radiocarbon dating from the tombs suggests funerary occupation from the “early Christian” to the “classic Christian” period. A macroscopic examination of the skeletal remains of the individual in grave 13 revealed palaeopathological signs pointing to Rhinomaxillary syndrome. The cranium of this 40- to 50-year-old woman showed significant bone resorption, particularly in the nasal area. Associated with these lesions are several modifications of the hands and feet, namely phalangeal acro-osteolysis and destructive diaphyseal remodelling. Differential diagnostic testing, in particular for other infectious/inflammatory diseases, concluded that the type and distribution of the lesions displayed by the individual from grave 13 at Mouweiss were indicative of leprosy. These findings contribute new data to understand the distribution of this disease and new evidence for leprosy in Sudanese Nubia, where there are very few palaeopathological cases illustrating its presence.

The majority of Kushite urban sites contain a large number of palaces. This is the case in the ancient capital, Meroe, with both buildings M294 and M295 in the “royal city,” and the large structure M750, close to the Amun temple. Palaces are also found in several religious centers such as Jebel Barkal and Naqa. Medium‐sized cities in the Island of Meroe such as Wad ben Naqa, el‐Hassa, and Muweis also contained palaces. Although in many respects these buildings are very different from their Egyptian counterparts, there is, in the current state of research, a relative continuity of the symbolic value of palatial buildings in Sudan. The implementation of a new palace is a major event, because the building represents the creative role of the sovereign and restorer of the world order. The structure must embody these meanings by showing them in its functional aspects. Through a comparative approach, the palatial buildings are placed in the urban network, especially in their relationship with the main temple of the city.