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Early comparative research on the material from the site of Kadakol 1 in the Letti Basin (Sudan), which was surveyed in the late 1960s, suggested an association with the Kerma Culture horizon while not excluding multicultural occupation. Investigations, which were resumed in 2022 within the frame of a new research project exploring the significance of the Middle Nile Valley in prehistoric times, have yielded data confirming the early findingsand contributing information on younger occupational episodes from Napatan and Christian times, in both cases attested by extensive burial grounds.

New research on early Holocene settlement and burial practices in the Southern Dongola Reach focused on the key areas of the Letti region, Argi (adjacent to Affad) and the outlets of Wadi el-Melik and Wadi Howar. The project follows up on ten years of investigations by the PalaeoAffad Project in the Affad region (Northern Province, Sudan). Unique data collected in the course of the first season of fieldwork reopens the debate on cattle domestication and early pottery production in the region (previously classified as the Tergis Group). The new finds, concerning Neolithic and Kerma settlement in the region, enables changes in the currently accepted absolute chronology of prehistoric settlement in the area.

Presentation of the results of the last season of research in the Affad Basin (Northern Province, Sudan). Recent discoveries focused on the most distant archaeological sites known in the microregion, remote some 7 km from the current river. Explored features revealed cultural affinities with pastoralism at the semi-desert environment dated to the period between Meroitic and Makuria kingdoms.

The paper examines the technological scheme for granite mining with the use of rock chutes in the conditions of the Rybalsky Quarry. The research purpose is to substantiate effective technological schemes for mining the upper granite quarry horizons to reduce mining costs and improve the final product quality. Research is conducted using: the method of scientific analysis, theoretical research and practice of project and production organizations; mining-geometric calculations; variant method for comparing and selecting technological schemes for mineral mining. As a result, the dependence of the transportation cost of 1 ton of mineral on the transportation distance has been determined, due to which it became possible to assess the effectiveness of using rock chutes in the conditions of the Rybalsky Quarry. The dependence of the rock chute inclination angle on the friction coefficient when rolling down the mined mass has been revealed, which substantiates the rational inclination angle of the rock chute for quarry conditions. Practical value of the research results consists in reducing the cost of transporting minerals from the upper quarry horizons by applying a technological scheme with the mined mass movement using rock chutes.