DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Żurawski, Bogdan: Dongola Reach: the Southern Dongola Reach Survey, 1998/1999
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41274#0212
DONGOLA REACH
SUDAN
PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HISTORIC SITES
The fieldwork started at the famous gubbas
cemetery of Old Dongola visited in 1672
by Evliya Celebi3) and was terminated at
the medieval fortress site of Ed-Diffar,
75 km upstream from Old Dongola. Nearly
600 sites were described, evaluated, sam-
pled, measured, GPS-positioned and pho-
tographed, from a kite and at ground level.
Whilst some sites (mostly historic ones
dated to the medieval period) had been
recorded by earlier travelers and researchers,
virtually nothing was known of the prehis-
tory and early history of the region under
consideration. A vast majority of new sites
is clustered in three areas (where trial
trenches were excavated). The first is
a 15 km stretch upstream from Old Dongola,
comprising the villages of Bukibul and
Hammur, the area of Banganarti/Tangasi/
Selib. The second is Argi Basin (some
30 km upstream from Old Dongola). The
third one comprises the neighboring dis-
tricts of Abkor and Tergis (some 50 km
upriver from Old Dongola).
With half of the concession area sur-
veyed so far on a high-intensity survey
basis, any remarks regarding the settle-
ment pattern and quantitative, as well as
qualitative distribution of the material
remains can be little but provisional.
Nonetheless, some tentative conclusions
can be put forward.
Lithics are present at 229 sites.
Altogether, 1552 stone artifacts have been
Fig. 1. The Nile between Khandaq and Kareima. The hamlet of Ed-Diffar is not marked, but it
sits on the right bank of the Nile exactly opposite Fakrinkotti.
3) E. Prokosch, Ins Land der geheimnisvollen Func, Osmanische Gescbicbtsschreiber, Neue Folge Band 3 (Graz 1994), 153-
154.
210
SUDAN
PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HISTORIC SITES
The fieldwork started at the famous gubbas
cemetery of Old Dongola visited in 1672
by Evliya Celebi3) and was terminated at
the medieval fortress site of Ed-Diffar,
75 km upstream from Old Dongola. Nearly
600 sites were described, evaluated, sam-
pled, measured, GPS-positioned and pho-
tographed, from a kite and at ground level.
Whilst some sites (mostly historic ones
dated to the medieval period) had been
recorded by earlier travelers and researchers,
virtually nothing was known of the prehis-
tory and early history of the region under
consideration. A vast majority of new sites
is clustered in three areas (where trial
trenches were excavated). The first is
a 15 km stretch upstream from Old Dongola,
comprising the villages of Bukibul and
Hammur, the area of Banganarti/Tangasi/
Selib. The second is Argi Basin (some
30 km upstream from Old Dongola). The
third one comprises the neighboring dis-
tricts of Abkor and Tergis (some 50 km
upriver from Old Dongola).
With half of the concession area sur-
veyed so far on a high-intensity survey
basis, any remarks regarding the settle-
ment pattern and quantitative, as well as
qualitative distribution of the material
remains can be little but provisional.
Nonetheless, some tentative conclusions
can be put forward.
Lithics are present at 229 sites.
Altogether, 1552 stone artifacts have been
Fig. 1. The Nile between Khandaq and Kareima. The hamlet of Ed-Diffar is not marked, but it
sits on the right bank of the Nile exactly opposite Fakrinkotti.
3) E. Prokosch, Ins Land der geheimnisvollen Func, Osmanische Gescbicbtsschreiber, Neue Folge Band 3 (Graz 1994), 153-
154.
210