Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

FOURTH CATARACT

SUDAN

between the last two, surprisingly short
compared to the average of 20 km that
separates two neighboring fortresses in the
densely populated area downriver.
The three strongholds in the Shemkhiya
region have fueled a literally age-old
discussion as to their raison d'etre. The need
to protect a huge gold mine located just
a couple of kilometers inland from Hillet el-
Tibra (which means Village of Gold(dust) in
Arabic) would have been sufficient reason
for building two strongholds ol consider-
able dimensions, perched on hilltops over-
looking the river and an extensive stretch of
the left bank.

The gold mines were apparently not the
only reason behind the presence of the three
fortresses in Shemkhiya. The survey proved
a considerable density of settlement pattern
in the region throughout the Christian
period, evidenced by a continuous chain of
relatively big box-grave cemeteries (more
than a thousand graves are still preserved,
despite damage caused by encroaching
agriculture, in a cemetery merely a kilo-
meter away from the El Ar stronghold)
located at the edge of almost every modern
village. The strongholds were obviously
meant to provide the settled population
with shelter from raiding desert tribes.

DAR EL-ARAB (SWUEQI EL-GHARB)

The site, which lies at the southernmost end
of the SAS Concession in the Fourth
Cataract region [Fig. 1\, had been visited in
1999 by Derek A. Welsby.5 An agreement
with SARS opened the way for a Polish
expedition to study the fortress, its chrono-
logy and stages of architectural develop-
ment. A detailed plan of the fortress was
plotted [Fig. 2] along with a contour plan of
its immediate vicinity. The excavations were
planned as 14 test pits dug inside the
fortress and on the cemeteries on the
western slope of the fortress hill.
The original fortress was probably
associated with a landing place on the river.
Charcoal samples taken from below the
undisturbed foundation course of the
original girdle wall in the lowermost,
riverward part of the fortress, examined by
the Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory, have
given a calibrated (95.4% probability)
range date of AD 430-640. Once the
defenses were extended up the precipitous
river bank, the hilltop extension (called the


Fig. 2. Contour plan of Swueqi el-Gbarb
(Measured and drawn R. Lopaciuk)

5 D.A. Welsby, Survey above the Fourth Nile Cataract, SARS Publication 10 (London 2003).

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