Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

The Staircase (Room 40) was complete-
ly excavated. It comprises four flights of
steps made of stone blocks climbing
around a rectangular pier (Fig. 7).
The only entrance to the staircase on the
ground floor level led from room 41, acces-
sible in turn from room 37 (the last of the
northern row of rooms in the keep) through
a doorway, perhaps blocked in the 12th
cent. No doubt this staircase served both
Buildings, NW-N and NW-S, at the time
when the latter of the two, initially low (and

so without its own staircase), received an
upper story as a result of 1 lth-cent. rebuild-
ing, turning the Annex into one complex. A
small wooden plaquette depicting a Warrior
Saint, somewhat damaged by fire, was
found in the rubble of the staircase (Fig. 8).
The findings bear evidence to two main
stages of rebuilding in this part of the
Annex: the first, i.e., initiated by Georgios
when he was still only an archpresbyter,n)
and the second after his death in 1113- In
both cases, the function and character of

Fig. 7. Korn H, Building NW-N. Section N-S through the staircase (Room 40)
(Drawing Z. Solarewicz)


Proof is provided by a dedication of Georgios on a mural in Room 29 constructed during the first renovation of
Building NW-S, cf. Jakobielski in: PAM VIII, Reports 1996 (1997), pp. 163-165, fig. 3A; PAM IX, Reports 1997 (1998),
p. 167.

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