DOI Artikel:
Godlewski, Włodzimierz: The old Dongola fortifications
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26389#0077
obviously constitute part of an architectural project, strategic in nature. It consists of
a network of mudbrick walls forming units which were subsequently filled in with
debris in order to create a flat building site.
Both the rampart wall and the platform structure are dated mainly on the grounds
of pottery recovered during excavations. The entire assemblage belongs without
exception to the early period and should be dated in all probability to the 6*^-7^ century
A.D..
East of the northern end of the rampart wall, just off the rocky outcrop
constituting its termination, two circular mudbrick structures filled with gravel were
cleared. Both were on bedrock level, at a distance of 1 m from each other. The southern
structure was round with a diameter of roughly 0.8-0.95 m and a slightly flattened
eastern side. It consisted of upended mudbricks laid directly upon bedrock; what has
survived is some 0.4 m high. On the east there was an opening (9 x 14.5 cm.). Outside it
the rock was hollowed out in a 0.4 m long, narrow channel, the width of which matched
the opening. This furnace was found filled with alternating layers of iron ore and
charcoal. It would appear that the smelting process in this structure had been
abandoned at an early stage. A c" dating of the charcoal from the southern furnace
narrows the date to the very beginning of the 63il century (510 A.D.).1 2 In this respect
the Dongolan structures, only the second of their type to be known from the area of the
Sudan, are later than the furnaces uncovered in Meroe.3
The rocky outcrop which terminated the northern end of the wide mudbrick wall
appears to have had a stone structure reinforcing it on the east and south. The
structure or rather its foundations were constructed without the use of mortar, directly
upon the sloping rock surface. The material used was a rosy granite and included
1 The dating was conducted by Prof. M. Pazdur from the C1*
Laboratory of Gliwice Polytechnic (Gd.-5753).
3 P. L. Shinnie, F. J. Kense, Meroitic Iron Working,
Meroitica 6, 1982, pp. 17-28; R. Tylecote, Metal working at
Meroe, Sudan, Meroitica 6, 1982, pp. 29-42.
75
a network of mudbrick walls forming units which were subsequently filled in with
debris in order to create a flat building site.
Both the rampart wall and the platform structure are dated mainly on the grounds
of pottery recovered during excavations. The entire assemblage belongs without
exception to the early period and should be dated in all probability to the 6*^-7^ century
A.D..
East of the northern end of the rampart wall, just off the rocky outcrop
constituting its termination, two circular mudbrick structures filled with gravel were
cleared. Both were on bedrock level, at a distance of 1 m from each other. The southern
structure was round with a diameter of roughly 0.8-0.95 m and a slightly flattened
eastern side. It consisted of upended mudbricks laid directly upon bedrock; what has
survived is some 0.4 m high. On the east there was an opening (9 x 14.5 cm.). Outside it
the rock was hollowed out in a 0.4 m long, narrow channel, the width of which matched
the opening. This furnace was found filled with alternating layers of iron ore and
charcoal. It would appear that the smelting process in this structure had been
abandoned at an early stage. A c" dating of the charcoal from the southern furnace
narrows the date to the very beginning of the 63il century (510 A.D.).1 2 In this respect
the Dongolan structures, only the second of their type to be known from the area of the
Sudan, are later than the furnaces uncovered in Meroe.3
The rocky outcrop which terminated the northern end of the wide mudbrick wall
appears to have had a stone structure reinforcing it on the east and south. The
structure or rather its foundations were constructed without the use of mortar, directly
upon the sloping rock surface. The material used was a rosy granite and included
1 The dating was conducted by Prof. M. Pazdur from the C1*
Laboratory of Gliwice Polytechnic (Gd.-5753).
3 P. L. Shinnie, F. J. Kense, Meroitic Iron Working,
Meroitica 6, 1982, pp. 17-28; R. Tylecote, Metal working at
Meroe, Sudan, Meroitica 6, 1982, pp. 29-42.
75