Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

PROTECTIVE MEASURES
UNDERTAKEN IN THE WESTERN ANNEX

Walls were repaired in Rooms 1,3, and 2,
where rainfall water descending from the
ruined upper floor had caused serious
damages. Red brick was used to fill in the
gaps, while the original building material
(red brick and mudbrick) was used for all
provisional blocking and screening walls in
rooms 1, 43 and 45. The great portal in
room 1 was renovated (partly reconstructed)
after the disastrous rainfall in the summer
of 1999, which had seriously affected its
surface.
Mural conservation started with
reinforcement of the edges of surviving
plaster with water-diluted hydroxypro-
pylocellulose mixed with sand, Nile mud
and chalk. The same mixture was used to
fill in the gaps in the plaster and a dilution

of it to reattach the plaster to the wall.
Surfaces were cleaned mechanically with
special sponges and glass-fiber brushes, and
chemically, applying locally a 5% solution
of NH4OH. A 3% solution of Paraloid
B-72 in toluene was applied repeatedly to
protect the painted surfaces.
A screening roof of over 200 m2 in area
was erected over the Annex structure. It
consists of a grid of steel pipes (1.5 inch in
diameter) supported on a brick pier-and-
wall structure raised to the required height
on top of surviving walls. The grid is
covered with a palm-fiber (jarida) mat and
special roofing paper “Tyvek”, followed by
a layer of qesh (palm leaves) and zibala
(dung and mud) on top, this in keeping
with a well tested local roofing tradition.

KOMS R

In the Pottery Manufacturing area two
pottery kiln sites were excavated: Kiln R3
(initiated in the 1998 season) and a new
site code-named Rl.F, located some 36 m
northeast of kiln Rl.D.
The combustion chamber of Kiln R3
(Fig. 9) is of cylindrical construction,
1.45 m in diameter and preserved to a
height of 1.25 m. The pavement, which is
unique, consists of large mudbricks (36 x
16 x 6 cm) with similar mudbricks in a
double row making up the walls of the
chamber. The inner surface of these walls is
highly overfired due to repeated firing in
high temperatures, and covered with a
thick layer of slag. Traces of a small
ventilation and refueling opening were
found on the south side. At a height of
1.16 m above the pavement smaller bricks
(28 x 12 x 4 cm) were used in the walls,
constituting in all likelihood remnants of a

structure separating the combustion and
firing chambers (Fig. 10). This suggests at
least two stages of use. The second stage
was also distinguished by a layer of slag
formed over a stratum of ashes 55 cm
thick. A probe dug south of the kiln
revealed that the kiln had been built and
used during the Post-Classic period (not
later than the 12th century). Late and
Terminal potsherds indicate the second
and final stage of its operation.
Kiln Rl.F was of enormously heavy
structure with walls 0.80 m thick, built of
bricks 30 x 16 x 7 cm in size. The
combustion chamber, slightly elliptical in
plan (2.30-2.60 m in diameter), is
preserved to a height of 110 cm. On three
sides it was reinforced with a sort of
mudbrick bench. A probe dug south of the
kiln indicated that the kiln had been dug
in strata of production refuse reaching

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