Abstract
The paper informs of the features utilised for rainwater harvesting, identified on the plateaus of Jebel Sabaloka in the vicinity of two settlements located on the terraces in the rocky slopes above the Nile and dated to the Christian "Medieval" and Islamic "Post-medieval" periods. On the strength of the results of a micro-morphological analysis, which do not exclude use of the features for cultivation, and on the basis of written sources and parallels from Darfur and Kordofan in the Sudan, hypotheses are presented as to the motivations which may have stood behind the occupation of the mountains and exploitation of its limited subsistence resources during the stated periods.