Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

DONGOLA REACH

SUDAN

KUSHITE TEMPLE OF SONIYAT

The work at Soniyat concentrated in the
southern part of the Kushite temple
investigated during the 1997, 1998 and
1998-1999 seasons.2) Six test pits were
dug, to enable the master plan of the
religious complex to be completed.
During this work, a second-phase temple
was found (Figs. 1, 2). It had been raised in
the Meroitic period, after the Napatan
temple had been ruined. With alterations
effected in mud, adding to existing stone
sections, it was much smaller and of
inferior quality than its predecessor. The

pylons and the walls behind them were
constructed of sun-dried bricks and faced
with stone. The roofing above the cella was
supported on wooden beams set in the
pavement in its latest phase of use.
A kitchen space was arranged in the side
rooms, cut off by the new mud brick walls;
it was used extensively by later squatters
(Late Meroitic/post-Merotic period), living
in the temple after it had been abandoned
(Fig. 3).
In the southern part of the earlier
Kushite temple some reused blocks were


Fig. 2. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the Kushite temple in Soniyat (Tergis 40)
(Computer rendering P. Malec)

2) For reports on the previous seasons, cf. B. Zurawski, “Soniyat. Southern Dongola Reach Survey. Archaeological
Reconnaisance near Abkor 1997”, PAM IX, Reports 1997 (1998), 180-193; id., “Dongola Reach. The Southern Dongola
Reach Survey, 1998”, PAM X, Reports 1998 (1999), 149-160; id., “Dongola Reach. The Southern Dongola Reach Survey,
1998/1999”, PAM XI, Reports 1999 (2000), 209-221.

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