Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

of stone and brick, reducing the height to
just about 0.70 m. The fill under this second
floor yielded sherds of Post-Classic and Late
Christian date {Fig. 5, top and middle row].
The 'cellar' was entered down some steps in
the eastern end, the entrance blocked first by
red bricks and later by mud brick. The wall
above the mastaba bore a dipinto with the
text in Greek (interpreted by S. Jakobielski
as: “Hear, O Lord {my] prayer”, a paraphrase
of the incipit of Psalm 16(17).
It is not excluded that the mastaba was
first a tomb of a holy man or a reliquary of
sorts, and thus the chamber took on sacral
function. In the Post-Classic period, it
appears to have become strictly utilitarian,

perhaps as a place for the monk-guardian
holding the keys to the church. The mastaba
at this point started being used as a bed and
store.
The central chamber in the western end
of the church, entered from the nave, had
a plastered masonry bench of red brick
alongside the north and west walls,
c. 0.38 m wide and rising about 0.30 m
above the ceramic-tile floor from the second
phase of the church. The originally wide
entrance appears to have been narrowed
down to about 0.80 m in the 11th century.
An architectural-floral ornament painted on
plaster decorated both sides of these later
walls.


Fig. 4■ Mastaba-ceilar in the corner of the northwestern room, view from the east
(Photo D. Gazda)

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