One of the few larger Meroitic settlements in the region was on Tila island [site 16-J-20] , a few miles upstream of Semna. This rocky island had very little agricultural land and seems likely to have been primarily concerned with managing Meroitic communications/transport. While containing several building complexes, some were already abandoned and decayed by the later Meroitic period when burials were placed within their ruins. There was a small cemetery of about 30 graves on Tila island [16-J-19] and another [16-J-22] on the east bank.

Excavations of the Meroitic settlement on Tila island [16-J-20]

One of the larger Meroitic cemeteries examined by the ASSN was at Dal East [21-V-6] near the south end of the Batn al-Hajar. This may have contained 100 Meroitic burials including c.18 with small mastaba/pyramid superstructures.