Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

tainly dates to before the fall of Dongola.
A provisional dating in the 13th-l4th
century refers to the church erected over
the northern city gate.7) This room
remained in use as a habitation in Post-
Christian times. A hearth was observed
and with it a number of handmade vessels
and sherds most probably from the 15 th-
16th centuries.
Tower E.2 located another 31.5m fur-
ther on is in even worse condition. Its
stone-curtain structure was revealed only
in a trial pit situated atop the southeast-
ern curve. The tower was of standard pro-
portions with a length of c. 8.40 m and
a width at the base of c. 6.0 m. The
ruined structure — there is no evidence to
date this event — had a superstructure of
mudbrick erected on top of it, repeating
the tower layout, but serving as a habita-
tion with a window in the northern
facade. The rooms, which were probably
part of a bigger complex raised on top of
the curtain walls, as well as inside the for-
tifications, were used in post-Makurian
times. It is noteworthy that the outer
mudbrick coat, which was built to encase
the fortifications presumably during the
wars of the Makurians with Mamluk
Egypt in the late 13th century, also sur-
rounded the northeastern part of the
rebuilt tower E.2. It firmly roots the
rebuilding of the tower in the period pre-
ceding the "renovation" of Dongola's for-
tifications in the 12th-13th centuries.
The recording work in the northeast-
ern part of the kom concentrated on
a number of rooms belonging to houses
established inside and outside the fortifi-
cations, on leveled ground that sloped
slightly toward the northeast. All the
structures in this part of the kom recall
7) W. Godlewski, PAM VII, Reports 1995 (1996), 114-117.
8) Fr. Cailliaud, Voyage a Meroe... (Paris 1826), II, pi. I.

the latest habitations superimposed on
the site of the Cruciform Church north of
the defenses and may be dated presum-
ably to the 17th century or shortly there-
after. In the early 19th century, to judge
by Fr. Cailliaud's sketches, this part was
already destroyed and long abandoned.8)
A rough course of the "renovated"
Dongolan fortifications was traced among
these late architectural remains, as well as
fragments of broken-stone structures
resembling the original fortification outer
curtain wall. No towers were identified
for certain in this part of the site. The
trial pits could not be made sufficiently
deep because of the sand fill lying against
the outer wall face and will need to be
extended in order for the explorations to
continue.
A trial pit in the southwestern part of
the kom (SW.S) revealed a structure that
resembled the fortifications from the last
period of their existence after the "renova-


Fig. 6. Entry gate to Building S-W.N
Drawing W. Godlewski)

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