In 2007, the co-directors of the Early Makuria Research Project divided forces, working on the excavation of the cemetery in El-Zuma and on the mapping and documentation of the tumuli fields extending north and south of Gebel Ghaddar in the immediate vicinity of Dongola. Both tumuli fields had already been identified during a survey and partly excavated but, the rapidly encroaching modern architecture of the village of El-Ghaddar on the southeastern edges of the Letti Basin is quickly obliterating the two cemeteries located to the east of the settlement. The present work was one of the last opportunities to study these tombs which may yet contribute to an understanding of why in the late 5th/early 6th century AD the early rulers of the kingdom of Makuria chose to locate their capital city on the citadel in Dongola.