Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

BANGANARTI

SUDAN

BANGANARTI
2004/2005
Bogdan Zurawski

The 2004/ 2003 SDRS season, being the fifth completed so far at the site of Banganarti,
lasted from 13 December 2004 until 16 March 2003.1 The work was accomplished
concurrently with projects at Der el-Arab and on Saffi Island, part of the staff commuting
from the dig house on Saffi to the fortress site of Dar El-Arab in a motor boat named
11Heidelberg'1 after the main sponsor of the Dar El-Arab project.
The restoration of the Upper Church murals, especially new ones revealed under a thick
layer of washed down plaster and mud, was the chief task of the conservation unit this
season. Ceramics were in the capable hands of Jacke Phillips, who organized and supervised
the studies, which also covered the stored collection from previous SDRS campaigns.
Top on the agenda was a reconstruction of the Lower Church layout (especially the western
section), as well as testing and surface clearing of the northern and western sections of the
enclosure wall (first surveyed in 2001 ).2 The excavations in the Western Building were aimed
at reconstructing its complete plan, phasing the building history and reconstructing the function
and rationale behind subsequent enlargements. Of importance for the potteiy study project were
stratigraphic cuts dug along the eastern section of the girdle wall, both inside and outside it.
Other tasks included aerial (kite) photography of the site and its immediate surroundings
{Figs 1,2}, as well as finehoning the contour plan of the kom and its surroundings, and
measurements of the so-called Western Building and both (Upper and Lower) churches.

1 The Banganarti team worked concurrently with the expedition to the Fourth Cataract area, both projects being directed by
Dr. Bogdan Zurawski. The teams comprised: Prof. Dr. Karol Piasecki, physical anthropologist; Dr. Adam Lajtar, Greek
epigraphist; Dr. Jacke Phillips, archaeologist and ceramologist; Dr. Marcin Wiewiora, archaeologist, specialist in mud brick
architecture; Dr. Magdalena Eaptas, art historian, iconologist; Ms Dobrochna Zielinska, archaeologist, iconologist; Mr. Piotr
Osypinski, prehistorian and archaeologist, lithic material specialist; Ms Olga Bialostocka, Mrs. Edyta Klimaszewska-Drabot,
Ms Hanna Kozinska-Sowa, Mr. Artur Obluski, archaeologists; Ms Mariola Orzechowska, archaeologist, documentalist;
Mrs. Marta Osypinska, archeozoologist; Ms Anna Blaszczyk, Ms Marta Momot, students ot archaeology, documenralists;
Mr. Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka, Mr. Wojciech Chmiel. Ms Monika Czerniec, restorers; Eng. Ryszard Szemraj, constructor
/building restorer; Mr. Maciej topaciuk, student of geodesy and cartography; Mr. Maciej Komornicki, photographer.
The NCAM was represented by senior inspector Mr. Fawzi Hassan Bakhit, whose inestimable assistance allowed the mission
to complete its objectives in the Fourth Cataract area, and by Ms Sara Abdel-Latif, who was inspector in training at Banganarti.
2 Cf. results of work at Banganarti reported annually in PAM starting with volume XIII.

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