Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

The trench in room B.I.15 showed that
urban architecture, apparently contempo-
rary with the fortifications, had been built
against the inside face of the defenses.
The fortifications on site SW.N seem to
have fulfilled the same role as the wall
abutting the platform in the northwestern
part of the town areaA Neither featured
a stone facing and both were apparently
designed to protect the town in the general
area of the river port. It is assumed that
Dongola had two ports — a northern one
accessible to the public at large and
a southern one, which was more of a private
port serving the needs of the later Palace.3 4)
PALACE BUILDING B.I
Only the southwestern part of this
extensive structure, presumably over
1,000 sq. m, was uncovered in an area
where walls survive to a height of as much
as four meters (Fig. 2). The structure had
been erected against the west wall of the
fortifications, incorporating it and largely
eliminating the southern sections located
already in the bay of the assumed port,
where also the riverside entrance to the
upper floor of the structure (B.I) was to be
found. It cannot be excluded that the palace
walls were founded on earlier architecture
situated in this area and attached to the
inner face of the defenses, but the area of
the test pit in B.I.15 is so limited that no
binding interpretation of the ruins
discovered there can be made as yet.
The walls of B.I were built of red brick,
mud brick and blocks of sandstone. The
mixed building technique based on the
application of different building materials
has a great deal in common structurally

with the Throne Hall in Dongola.5) The
outer face of red brick was structurally
joined to the mud bricks used on the inside.
Sandstone blocks were used to erect the
southwestern corner of the building and the
entrance in the southern fagade along with
adjacent sections of the wall (Fig. 3). All
the inner walls were constructed of
mudbrick. Other interesting architectural
solutions, like the red-brick vault of the
staircase, will presumably come to light as
the excavation progresses.
The building had an upper floor, as
indicated by the monumental staircase and
by rooms of the higher level, partly
identified in the eastern end of the trench.
The main entrance must have been on the
city side, in the part of the palace that has
yet to be uncovered. The riverside entrance
led directly on to the upper floor of the
structure. Not much is known as yet of the
interior layout, but enough has been
observed to establish the existence of two
or more rows of parallel chambers separated
by long transversal rooms or corridors.
This year only the staircase (B.I. 1) and unit
B.I.15, which had been used as the
depository of toilet facilities on the upper
floor, were cleared down to the original
occupational level.
One should assume that the staircase
(B.I. 1) was centered in the southern
fagade and projected somewhat from the
line of the fagade. It was a fairly large
room, measuring inside 4.15 by 6.95 m
and lighted by two windows in the eastern
wall. The entrance itself, situated in the
southwestern corner of the unit, was
110 cm wide and crowned with wedge-
shaped blocks of sandstone (surviving only

3) Id., “The fortifications of Old Dongola. Report on the 1990 Season”, ANM 5 (1991), 105.
4) Id., “Dongola in the 6th-7th centuries”, African Reports II (2002), forthcoming.
5) W. Godlewski, S. Medeksza, “The so-called Mosque Building in Old Dongola (Sudan). A Structural Analysis , ANM
2 (1987), 185-205.

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