Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (6.1994(1995))

OLD DONGOLA
THE MOSAIC CHURCH (ATOM E) 1993/94
by Bogdan Żurawski
A/w? E sits on the brink of a rocky jebel 100 m east of the
modern village of El Ghaddar. Fifty meters north are two Rock
Tombs of approximately 6^ century date. The vast stretch of the
Transitional/Early Christian cemeteries starts a couple of metres
east of the
The Church on ATw? E (known also as the Mosaic Church)
is the only church in Nubia whose whole interior was once paved
with mosaics. The regular geometrical pattern in the western part
of the /mZ/ra/ is analogous to the mosaics found in the presbytery
of the Church of the Stone Pavement in Dongola (Fig. 1). The
computerized model of Afow E with the Church outline on it
presents its surface sculpture in somewhat exaggerated form.
The works of the 1993/1994 season started around the
ferrocrete (ferroneous sandstone) base situated precisely in line
with the southern wall of the Church. It appeared to be the
southernmost base of a set of four of similar size and shape. The
monolithic columns were dislodged and removed in ancient times.
The space thus roofed was a sort of transversal narthex giving
access to the nave and to the staircase. Its northern, eastern and
southern walls survived only in negative. The robbers left in .nfM
only a huge southwestern corner slab and the northern part of the
eastern wall. The western wall of the narthex was considerably
thinner than the walls of the church itself. The foundations were
surprisinglz deep, perhaps because of the sloping bedrock. The
builders tried to set the foundations on firm ground. They gave up
after digging a foundation ditch more than one meter deep
(compared to the later Dongolese manner of laying foundations, the
depth of these is enormous). The foundation bricks of
38 x 18 x 8 cm were bonded with lime mortar. Afterwards the

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