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#0157
DONGOLA REACH_
SUDAN
The hamlet of Soniyat (where in 1997
a Napatan temple was surveyed, drawn and
photographed from the air) is situated
2250 m east (that is upstream) from Istabel
fortress (the temple temenos is located
some 600 m south of Soniyat). It was first
observed and briefly mentioned by Lord
Prudhoe in 1829-10) Then it must have
been concealed by dunes, since it escaped
the attention of other European travelers.
The temple lies opposite the
Tambanarti Island, some 1 000 m or so
north of the Nile. However, there is ample
evidence to suggest that originally the
main axis of the temple was square with
the course of the Nile, which then ran sig-
nificantly closer to it.
The temple sits within a temenos of
which only the huge foundation stones of the
gate remain. The stones in questions, set
parallel to each other, measure respectively
277 x 110 cm and 354 x 110 cm. A test
trench dug by K. Ciaiowicz in February
1998 has revealed small fragments of the
temenos wall contiguous to the gate
(Figs. 4-5).
The temple itself lies 95 m south of the
temenos gate. It sits on an alluvial terrace
covered by aeolian sand. The geological
section exposed in the matara hole dug
Fig. 5. Excavations in the Soniyat temple in 1998
(Photo B. Zurawski)
10) Unpublished typewritten copy of Prudhoe's Journal kept at the Griffith Institute in Oxford. Access to the typescript
was kindly granted by Dr. Jaromir Malek, director of the Griffith Institute.
155
SUDAN
The hamlet of Soniyat (where in 1997
a Napatan temple was surveyed, drawn and
photographed from the air) is situated
2250 m east (that is upstream) from Istabel
fortress (the temple temenos is located
some 600 m south of Soniyat). It was first
observed and briefly mentioned by Lord
Prudhoe in 1829-10) Then it must have
been concealed by dunes, since it escaped
the attention of other European travelers.
The temple lies opposite the
Tambanarti Island, some 1 000 m or so
north of the Nile. However, there is ample
evidence to suggest that originally the
main axis of the temple was square with
the course of the Nile, which then ran sig-
nificantly closer to it.
The temple sits within a temenos of
which only the huge foundation stones of the
gate remain. The stones in questions, set
parallel to each other, measure respectively
277 x 110 cm and 354 x 110 cm. A test
trench dug by K. Ciaiowicz in February
1998 has revealed small fragments of the
temenos wall contiguous to the gate
(Figs. 4-5).
The temple itself lies 95 m south of the
temenos gate. It sits on an alluvial terrace
covered by aeolian sand. The geological
section exposed in the matara hole dug
Fig. 5. Excavations in the Soniyat temple in 1998
(Photo B. Zurawski)
10) Unpublished typewritten copy of Prudhoe's Journal kept at the Griffith Institute in Oxford. Access to the typescript
was kindly granted by Dr. Jaromir Malek, director of the Griffith Institute.
155