Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

The condition of the discovered struc-
tures necessitated extensive conservation
treatment. Most of the protective measures
taken concerned walls and murals in the
Western Annex. The following repairs and
reconstruction works were undertaken over
the course of the season.
In places where the walls revealed verti-
cal cracking (Rooms 13, 10, 12) iron anchors
of 0.9 cm diameter were used to stabilize the
structure. The same method was applied to
the 13 m long and badly damaged barrel
vault in Room 13, where similar anchors
were fixed and a red-brick supporting con-
struction erected in order to attach the rem-
nants of the vault to the walls.
Walls were repaired in Rooms 13, 40
and 24, where rain water flowing from the
ruined upper story had caused serious

destruction. The gaps were filled with
red brick. Original building material (red-
and mud-brick) was used for all temporary
blocking (doorways in Rooms 9 and 24)
and casing walls (in Room 13) intended to
keep the unexcavated fill in position.
The niche in the blocked doorway
between rooms 7 and 37 was repaired. Two
steel pipes were introduced instead of the
original wooden beams (now completely
rotted away) and a fragment of the original
wall, restored from pieces and forming
a block a half sq. m. in size, was reposi-
tioned on them.
Conservation of the murals comprised
the following procedures: reinforcing all the
surviving plaster edges; filling in missing
parts of plaster and reattaching loose frag-
ments; fixing in place the peeling parts of

Fig. 9- Western Annex in 1998. Work on the roofing of the complex
(Photo W. Chmiel)


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