The Meroitic town of Nalote at Karanog in Lower Nubia was probably the administrative centre of the province called Akin, ruled over by a governor or 'peshto'.
The settlement and cemetery originally occupied an area of 6-8 hectares, larger than Buhen, the earlier fortified Egyptian town. Mud brick houses, two or three storeys high, were densely packed along narrow irregular streets.
Most of the public buildings, including temples and granaries, have been washed away by the river, but two governors' palaces do survive, overlooking the town. These palaces were divided into public audience halls and the private living quarters of the peshto and his family.
There was a high degree of social differentiation at Nalote, as reflected in the layout of the associated cemetery, where priests of the gods Mash and Amanap, governors, civil and religious officials and the ordinary townsfolk were buried in relatively distinct parts of the burial ground.
