Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

doorways in their west walls. The floors
were of compact mud. A second layer of
plaster was found only in places, which had
been repaired and whitewashed. All the
rooms turned out to be very high and
originally barrel-vaulted, similarly as
room 41.
The Northern Building (NW-N)
initially comprised a block (9 by 9-3 m)
consisting of nine small square rooms (4-9,
37-39), a staircase (40), a big room in the
eastern part (41), and an elongated room at
its northern side (14). It was a homo-
geneous,1^ storied structure, the first to be
built in the area as an extension of the
monastery to the west and remarkably
without an entrance from the outside at
ground-floor level (Fig. 6). The only
explanation of the curious layout, con-
sidering also the inner communication
system121 and the lack of paving, is that the


building was designed chiefly as
a foundation to support the massive
structure of the extension of the main
monastery building on the level of its upper
floor and may have been used perhaps only
as a storage place.131 Architectural research
in Building NW-S brought evidence for
dating the original structure to the 10th
century, perhaps slightly later than
Building NW-N. Trial pits dug to uncover
the foundations and observation of the
bonding revealed three constituent parts
with individual entrances all leading from
the south. The westernmost set of three
rooms: 22 and 24, plus a side room 24A,
was accessible through an imposing
archway. The center part comprised two
rooms (27 and 25) entered and joined by
large but low arcades. An extremely low
(1.20 m) doorway joined it with the
entrance hall. The eastern part, built


Fig. 5. Old Dongola. Oil lamp made of schist, after discovery (left) and after cleaning
(Photo T. Jakohielski)
11) After this season there can be no doubt that the staircase (40), room (41) and elongated space (41) were all integral parts
of the Northern Building, unlike what was believed earlier (cf. Jakobielski, in: African Reports I, op. cit., 55, and id., PAM
X, op. cit., 142-143.
12) Originally, from staircase through room 41 into room 7, from where into non-communicating room 4 and central
room 8. From 8 to non-comunicating rooms 5 or 38 and to room 9- From 9 to non-communicating rooms 6 or 39- Room
14 was accessible only from 41 and was non-communicating. In the second half of the 11th century most of this was
changed.
13) I owe this suggestion, as well as that concerning Building NW-S, to architect Jacek Kozinski, who analyzed the
structures during a short stay at the site in February 2000.

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