DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Żurawski, Bogdan: Dongola Reach: the southern Dongola Reach survey, 1998
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41273#0156
DONGOLA REACH_
SUDAN
Nothing can be said at the moment of
the layout of the huge Diffar fortress that
now shelters a few houses. Diffar was visit-
ed and drawn by Linant de Bellefonds in
18217) and by Baron von Muller in 1847.8)
Compared to the present shape of the
kom, the two drawings reveal rapid deteri-
oration in the most recent times. Today the
Diffar fortress is a shapeless mound of sand
and stones, although a church site with
some granite column bases still in situ can
be seen among the ruins of the eastern,
lowermost part. A granite column shaft
lies nearby and a ferrocrete capital a hun-
dred meters away. Another stone church
was reported by Linant de Bellofonds
opposite Diffar on Gigernarti Island.9)
Oral testimony collected in several
places within the concession area (Abkur
and Selib), indicates that within the past
200 years the Nile bed has been moving
continuously southwards.
Fig. 4- Plan ofSoniyat temple after the 1998 season
(Drawing B. Zurawski)
Linant de Bellefonds, Journal d'un Voyage a Meroe dans les Annees 1821 at 1822, SASOP No.4 (Khartoum 1958), p.
38, Pl. IX.
8) Johann Wilhelm Baron von Muller, Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Ak. der Wiss, II (1849), p- 333.
9) Linant de Bellefonds, op.cit., p. 37.
154
SUDAN
Nothing can be said at the moment of
the layout of the huge Diffar fortress that
now shelters a few houses. Diffar was visit-
ed and drawn by Linant de Bellefonds in
18217) and by Baron von Muller in 1847.8)
Compared to the present shape of the
kom, the two drawings reveal rapid deteri-
oration in the most recent times. Today the
Diffar fortress is a shapeless mound of sand
and stones, although a church site with
some granite column bases still in situ can
be seen among the ruins of the eastern,
lowermost part. A granite column shaft
lies nearby and a ferrocrete capital a hun-
dred meters away. Another stone church
was reported by Linant de Bellofonds
opposite Diffar on Gigernarti Island.9)
Oral testimony collected in several
places within the concession area (Abkur
and Selib), indicates that within the past
200 years the Nile bed has been moving
continuously southwards.
Fig. 4- Plan ofSoniyat temple after the 1998 season
(Drawing B. Zurawski)
Linant de Bellefonds, Journal d'un Voyage a Meroe dans les Annees 1821 at 1822, SASOP No.4 (Khartoum 1958), p.
38, Pl. IX.
8) Johann Wilhelm Baron von Muller, Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Ak. der Wiss, II (1849), p- 333.
9) Linant de Bellefonds, op.cit., p. 37.
154