DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Żurawski, Bogdan: Dongola Reach: the Southern Dongola Reach survey report on fieldwork in 2000
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41368#0284
DONGOLA REACH
SUDAN
THE SURVEY
This season a total of 254 sites was
recorded in the concession area on the right
bank between Ed-Diffar and Khor
Mahafour. Reconnoitering and doc-
umentary activities in the Ez-Zuma region
were carried out under special permission
from the NCAM,2) 3 as was the aerial
photographing of the Ghazali monastery.
The rescue operations in the Usli tumuli
field and the Usli temple were occasioned
by a road construction project that
included the laying of an underground
cable by the Sudan telecommunications
company.
The team focused on documenting the
mediaeval fortresses in the concession area:
the strongholds in Abkur (Istabel), Ed-
Diffar, Bakhit, Ed-Deiga and the fortified
enclosures in Banganarti (Sinada) and
Selib. General plans were also prepared of
the tumuli fields in Ez-Zuma and Jebel El-
Aalim, as well as of the Christian cemetery
in Bukibul and the so-called Anachorite
Grotto in Ez-Zuma.
The documentary activities in the Ez-
Zuma tumuli field gave occasion to a
revisiting of the Anachorite Grotto that
Lepsius had believed marked the site of an
ancient quarry. The Grotto had been
visited in the past by several scholars and
travelers, the best (unpublished) drawing
having been made by J.G. Wilkinson and
the best descriptions coming from Lepsius
and Monneret de Villard. The graffiti and
inscriptions that still cover the walls of the
Grotto were now copied.
The area of Ez-Zuma had been densely
populated in Christian times. The huge
early Christian fortress seen by Lepsius in
1844 has since been dismantled by the
local population, but the scarce post-
Meroitic ceramic scatter on the tumuli
field is still greatly contaminated with
Christian sherds. The fortress mentioned
by Lepsius was called Karat Negil after “an
old king of the land” ^ The structural details
of the fortress that Lepsius speaks of, such
as huge unworked stones forming the wall
substructure, are strongly suggestive of an
Early Christian provenance.4) Huge post-
Meroitic tumuli located west of the
settlement bear evidence of an even earlier
dating.5) The only proof of the existence of
the fortress nowadays is oral testimony.
The structure is totally walled in by
modern houses. A complete bronze
scimitar brought to the NCAM
headquarters in Khartoum in May 2000 is
said to come from the tumuli field at Ez-
Zuma.
The dating and appropriation of the
“quarry” in Ez-Zuma, where the so-called
Anachorite Grotto was installed in
Christian times, remains a mystery. The
Ez-Zuma tumuli, despite the exaggerated
term “pyramids” that Lepsius and others
used to describe them, are built of earth
and gravel (with some unworked stones in
2) The area between Mahafour and Ez-Zuma was surveyed by the Italian Mission under Irena Liverani Vincentelli. The
SDRS team restricted its activities to the site of Ez-Zuma.
3) R. Lepsius, Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopien und der Halbinsel des Sinai (Berlin 1852), 248.
4) The toponym could have something in common with the Greek word TO IgtofACt denoting that which is girded —
a most fitting name for a town “girded” by walls.
5) The survey carried out in Ez-Zuma in February 2000 brought to light a scatter of Early to Classic Christian ceramics
that is also present among the tumuli.
282
SUDAN
THE SURVEY
This season a total of 254 sites was
recorded in the concession area on the right
bank between Ed-Diffar and Khor
Mahafour. Reconnoitering and doc-
umentary activities in the Ez-Zuma region
were carried out under special permission
from the NCAM,2) 3 as was the aerial
photographing of the Ghazali monastery.
The rescue operations in the Usli tumuli
field and the Usli temple were occasioned
by a road construction project that
included the laying of an underground
cable by the Sudan telecommunications
company.
The team focused on documenting the
mediaeval fortresses in the concession area:
the strongholds in Abkur (Istabel), Ed-
Diffar, Bakhit, Ed-Deiga and the fortified
enclosures in Banganarti (Sinada) and
Selib. General plans were also prepared of
the tumuli fields in Ez-Zuma and Jebel El-
Aalim, as well as of the Christian cemetery
in Bukibul and the so-called Anachorite
Grotto in Ez-Zuma.
The documentary activities in the Ez-
Zuma tumuli field gave occasion to a
revisiting of the Anachorite Grotto that
Lepsius had believed marked the site of an
ancient quarry. The Grotto had been
visited in the past by several scholars and
travelers, the best (unpublished) drawing
having been made by J.G. Wilkinson and
the best descriptions coming from Lepsius
and Monneret de Villard. The graffiti and
inscriptions that still cover the walls of the
Grotto were now copied.
The area of Ez-Zuma had been densely
populated in Christian times. The huge
early Christian fortress seen by Lepsius in
1844 has since been dismantled by the
local population, but the scarce post-
Meroitic ceramic scatter on the tumuli
field is still greatly contaminated with
Christian sherds. The fortress mentioned
by Lepsius was called Karat Negil after “an
old king of the land” ^ The structural details
of the fortress that Lepsius speaks of, such
as huge unworked stones forming the wall
substructure, are strongly suggestive of an
Early Christian provenance.4) Huge post-
Meroitic tumuli located west of the
settlement bear evidence of an even earlier
dating.5) The only proof of the existence of
the fortress nowadays is oral testimony.
The structure is totally walled in by
modern houses. A complete bronze
scimitar brought to the NCAM
headquarters in Khartoum in May 2000 is
said to come from the tumuli field at Ez-
Zuma.
The dating and appropriation of the
“quarry” in Ez-Zuma, where the so-called
Anachorite Grotto was installed in
Christian times, remains a mystery. The
Ez-Zuma tumuli, despite the exaggerated
term “pyramids” that Lepsius and others
used to describe them, are built of earth
and gravel (with some unworked stones in
2) The area between Mahafour and Ez-Zuma was surveyed by the Italian Mission under Irena Liverani Vincentelli. The
SDRS team restricted its activities to the site of Ez-Zuma.
3) R. Lepsius, Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopien und der Halbinsel des Sinai (Berlin 1852), 248.
4) The toponym could have something in common with the Greek word TO IgtofACt denoting that which is girded —
a most fitting name for a town “girded” by walls.
5) The survey carried out in Ez-Zuma in February 2000 brought to light a scatter of Early to Classic Christian ceramics
that is also present among the tumuli.
282