The Tunjur, or Tungur, are a Muslim people estimated around 176,000 people, living mainly in central Darfur, a province of Sudan. They are farmers and live closely associated with the Fur, even if differently from these they speak Arabic as their native language. Like the Fur and the Zaghawa, since the start of the Darfur conflict in February 2003, many Tunjur have been displaced and some killed. A number of Tunjur has taken part to the fight against the Sudanese government fighting under the banners of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
The Tunjur were the ruling class of Darfur and Wadai. According to their traditions they are descendants of the Banu Hilal who migrated from Arabia to the Central Sudan either by way of North Africa and Tunis or by way of Nubia. In Darfur they vanquished the Daju and they were later in turn defeated by the Keira. Their overthrow by the Keira which took place about 1600 AD is couched in a colourful legend. Shau Dorshid, the last ruler of the Tunjur, was “driven out by his own people because he compelled his subjects to dig wells in the high rocky regions and to undertake the ardeous und useless task of levelling the Mail mountain peak, on the summit of which he wanted to establish his residence" (Nachtigal/Fisher 1889/1971, 276. His capital is said to have been the site of Ain Farah, which lies in the Furnung Hills some 130 kilometres north-west of El Fasher and comprises large-scale stone and brick walling. It has an enduring appeal and has been visited or described many times. Ain Farah moved one author to quote Macaulay – “like an eagle’s nest that hangs on the crest”, for it is built some 100 metres above the spring, is characterised by several hundred brick and stone structures and terraces, and is defended by steep ridges and by a massive stone wall three or four kilometres long. There is a brick and stone edifice which appears to have served as a mosque, a large stone group which may have served as a public building, and a main group on the highest point of the ridge, described variously as a royal residence or military defence.
Archaeological work is still in its beginning stages, but survey of a sample of houses and excavation of a grave was undertaken by Mohammed (1986) during his survey of Darfur. The grave contained a flexed burial and over 200 iron beads, an ostrich eggshell necklace, a perforated cowrie shell, and iron jewellery. One of the corroded iron objects yielded a surprisingly early date (1500 +/- 200 bp, Q 3155), falling at least six and perhaps as many as eleven centuries before the likely time of the Tunjur; Mohammed interprets this as signifying a pre-Islamic presence and continuation into Islamic times.