Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

BANGANARTI

SUDAN

Shortly after its construction the outer
gateway was blocked with mud brick and red
brick. This action seems to have been followed
by violent events, which have left evidence in
the form of layers of burning and ashes,
recorded in all of the test trenches excavated in
the area of the North Gate [Fig. 3\.
Phase Π
Defensiveness was at the root of the intensive
building works, which took place soon after
these events. Both the gate and the curtain
wall were thickened, up to 4 m in the gate
structure. A new walking level in the inner
passage was paved with pebbles bonded in
white mortar [no. 7 in Fig. 2, bottom]. At
this point the passage seems to have been
approximately 1.40 m high.
Two unusual features appear to have been
introduced at this stage. These are vertical
shafts reaching down to the gate foundations,
built into the wall of phase II but using the
outer face of the wall from phase I as one of
its sides [for feature no. 2, see Fig. 4).
According to the excavator, Bogdan
Zurawski, these shafts were used to mount
trebuchets (Zurawski 2007). The settlement
layers connected with this stage are
composed largely of ashes and burning. The


Fig. 4. Shaft for mounting a trebuchet (feature
no. 2) in the North gate in Sector IV
(Photo M. Drzewiecki)

device, whatever it was, appears to have been
destroyed and the shafts were filled with
burning and ashes of two distinctive colors:
ash gray and orange.
Phase HI
Burning layers still occur in this phase, but are
much less frequent. The inner passage is no
more than 0.90 m in height at the beginning
of this phase and by its end only the top of the
vault can still be seen from under the engulfing
sand [Fig. 2, bottom]. The courtyard was used
for domestic purposes. Some handmade pots
were recorded in situ on the remains of
a fireplace. By the end of the phase this not
easily accessible area seems to have been used
as a refuse dump. At the same time,
intensified activity was noted on the road
leading up to the gate. There are apparently
two levels of use marked by broken red bricks
forming layers approximately 5 cm thick.
Phase IV
Robbers’ pits have largely destroyed the
structures and archaeological layers
corresponding to this phase. The recorded
building activity includes one wall which was
raised in the courtyard cutting it into two
uneven parts with a doorway at the southern
end [cf. Fig. 2]. The other structure is
difficult to interpret; perhaps it was part of
the new curtain wall or a room that was
created here. The wall runs into the southern
baulk of the trench and was not fully
explored. The foundation is slightly askew,
running at 3.10-3.50 m below the datum
point set on the threshold of the Upper
Church. A corresponding level was recorded
on the road leading up to the gate; the surface
of the road appears to have been formed of
a layer of compacted mud about 7 cm thick.
Burial
An inhumation burial was noted in section 6.
It was located inside the curtain wall, about

Polish Archaeology in che Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007

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