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#0161
DONGOLA REACH_
SUDAN
verdigris. Its present yellowish appearance
is the result of a thick yellow wash with
which it was covered when in use, perhaps
as wall decoration. The face reveals some
portrait features, especially in the apparent
lack of symmetry. The hole in the forehead
was made on purpose before firing. At the
back, the aperture is very small and it is
hardly possible to pass a thread through it.
Rather than a suspension hole, the aperture
seems to be a socket for fixing a decorative
or symbolic element made of a material
other than clay.
Two kilometers to the west of Istabel
fortress (Jebel El Gren), along the road from
Abkur to Argi and further north, there is
a huge post-Meroitic tumuli field (it is one
of the biggest post-Meroitic cemeteries
between the 3rd and 4th cataracts).
The tumuli field continues for a kilo-
meter or so. Most of the mounds have the
crater-like depressions on top which are
suggestive of robbing in the past. No pre-
Christian remains have been found at the
Istabel fortress nor anywhere in its nearest
vicinity. The granite capital and granite
column lying on the southern (riverine)
slope of the fortress hill are the earliest
architectural remains in Abkur and its sur-
roundings.
A few kilometers downstream from
Istabel fortress, the Nile turns sharply
right and continues northward until Selib,
the site of another fortified Christian-peri-
od settlement. The locals in Selib tell the
same story as the inhabitants of Abkur,
namely that the Nile once had passed close
by the enclosure, but had duly turned
south a century or so ago.
The banks of the wadis giving to the
Nile at its right bank between Abkur and
Old Dongola were densely populated from
the Middle Paleolithic to post-Meroitic
times. In the wadi estuaries, the quantity
of lithics washed away from sites located
further in the desert is enormous. During
rescue operations on the post-Meroitic
tumulus 1 in Hamur more than three hun-
dred lithic artifacts were found.
On some prehistoric sites, shelter post-
holes were found. One of the most promis-
ing and most complex prehistoric sites was
Fig. 7. Terracotta portrait head (SDRS 19/98)
(Drawing J. Bogdanska)
159
SUDAN
verdigris. Its present yellowish appearance
is the result of a thick yellow wash with
which it was covered when in use, perhaps
as wall decoration. The face reveals some
portrait features, especially in the apparent
lack of symmetry. The hole in the forehead
was made on purpose before firing. At the
back, the aperture is very small and it is
hardly possible to pass a thread through it.
Rather than a suspension hole, the aperture
seems to be a socket for fixing a decorative
or symbolic element made of a material
other than clay.
Two kilometers to the west of Istabel
fortress (Jebel El Gren), along the road from
Abkur to Argi and further north, there is
a huge post-Meroitic tumuli field (it is one
of the biggest post-Meroitic cemeteries
between the 3rd and 4th cataracts).
The tumuli field continues for a kilo-
meter or so. Most of the mounds have the
crater-like depressions on top which are
suggestive of robbing in the past. No pre-
Christian remains have been found at the
Istabel fortress nor anywhere in its nearest
vicinity. The granite capital and granite
column lying on the southern (riverine)
slope of the fortress hill are the earliest
architectural remains in Abkur and its sur-
roundings.
A few kilometers downstream from
Istabel fortress, the Nile turns sharply
right and continues northward until Selib,
the site of another fortified Christian-peri-
od settlement. The locals in Selib tell the
same story as the inhabitants of Abkur,
namely that the Nile once had passed close
by the enclosure, but had duly turned
south a century or so ago.
The banks of the wadis giving to the
Nile at its right bank between Abkur and
Old Dongola were densely populated from
the Middle Paleolithic to post-Meroitic
times. In the wadi estuaries, the quantity
of lithics washed away from sites located
further in the desert is enormous. During
rescue operations on the post-Meroitic
tumulus 1 in Hamur more than three hun-
dred lithic artifacts were found.
On some prehistoric sites, shelter post-
holes were found. One of the most promis-
ing and most complex prehistoric sites was
Fig. 7. Terracotta portrait head (SDRS 19/98)
(Drawing J. Bogdanska)
159