Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

OLD DONGOLA
KOM A (ACROPOLIS), 2003
Wlodzimierz Godlewski

The team from the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University
continued, excavations on Kom A in the southwestern, fortified part of the capital city of
Dongola between January 17 and March 6, 2003-1* Previous fieldwork on Site SWN in
19991 2) and 20013) had covered the Cruciform Building (B.III), Palace Building (B.l)
and riverside fortifications, and had extended the area under investigation to the east and
north where residential architecture of the last phase of settlement was unearthed (H.1-H.4).
The oldest known building in Dongola, B.IV, was traced between B.l and B.III, which used
it as foundations. The key task of the season was to establish the maximum extent of the
palace (B.l) and to clear in its entirety and protect the Cruciform Building (B.III. 1-2)
(Fig. 1 )■ Exploration of the pottery deposit found in room B.L 15 provided important data
for the chronology of the earliest stages of palace existence.
Studies focused on the collections of imported amphorae from B.L 13 (D. Baginska), mud
stoppers (A. Jaklewicz), mural painting from the Cruciform Building (D. Zielinska) and
the osteological material from B.L 13 and the fill between the Cruciform Building and
Palace (M. Osypinska). Protection and conservation activities in the Cruciform Building
were charged to Haidar Hamid. Dr. Adam hajtar of the SDRS expedition at Banganarti
kindly consulted the reading of the epigraphical finds.

1) The team directed by Prof. Dr. W. Godlewski included Mr. Haidar Hamid, restorer and NCAM representative;
Ms Dobieslawa Baginska, ceramologist; Ms Dobrochna Zielinska, Mr. Artur Obluski, archeologists; Ms Anna Jaklewicz,
student of archeology. The animal osteological material from site SWN was examined by archeozoologist Mrs. M. Gauza-
Osypinska.
2) W. Godlewski, PAM XI, Reports 1999 (2000), 205.
3) Id., PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002), 203-214.

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