Are we largely Afro Asiatic people? I think in the past people did not care about language families as scholars both mainstream, and internet intellectuals today. Some people i encountered on are forums(again intellectual scholars on the net) believe we were once Afro Asiatic people, but go surplanted by Nilo Saharan language groups, these people based this due to the evidence of the earlier structures and settlements were written in the Afro Asiatic language, but later on go surplanted by Nilo Saharan groups,
again not factual but debatable. Also other based that a sizable amount of people in the north look quite similar to our eastern neighbors again (
definitely not all), but sizable nonetheless
And the reverse other people believe Nil Saharan people first, then later Afro Asiatic groups, which is supported by some scholars, while others are challenge it. Again it is still open for debate.
There is no one look for all Northern Sudanese, many people look similar to Eritreans or Somali like, whereas others many look indistinguishable from a person in Chad, and few may look similar to Southern Sudanese, and a few who look similar to a Egyptian from Alexander, and minority who may look Yemeni. Then you may have a few who may look more ambiguous, and would be hard to place them.
http://www.internationalrivers.org/...hard/merowe_affected_people.jpg?itok=Ga1_KaSL
I believe our people main components is both Afro Asiatic (if it is such a thing) and Nilo Saharan, where as other groups basically got mixed in and absorb by the dominant groups today.