Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

OLD DONGOLA


HOUSE OF THE ECCLESIASTICS (A. 106)

The western part of this house located in the
northwestern corner of the fortifications had
been uncovered in 1997. Excavations this
year, while failing to remove the debris of
the upper floor walls overlying the south-
eastern corner of the building, entrance
included, succeeded in establishing the
essential architectural information.
House A. 106 was a fairly extensive
structure (c. 10.0 x 11.4 m) with the inte-
rior four-room ground plan measuring
91m2 and an upper floor habitation area of
about the same size. Lighting and commu-
nication possibilities presented in the

schematic reconstruction below (Fig. 1) are
a factor of the building's position and loca-
tion as one of a series of houses built along-
side the western and northern curtain wall
of the defenses.
The structure was erected on top of ear-
lier mudbrick architecture that has yet to
be fully identified (Fig. 2). While no explo-
rations of the underlying House A.lll
were undertaken this year, its eastern wall
was followed in small trial pits dug by the
eastern wall of the renovated room
A. 106.1. This dwelling, most probably of
the early 6th century AD, must have dif-


Fig. 1. House of the Ecclesiastics (A. 106). Schematic reconstruction
(Drawing W. Godlewski)

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