DOI article:
Żurawski, Bogdan: Old Dongola: the Mosaic Church (Kom E) 1993/94
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26424#0106
interior of this space was laid with mosaics and then covered by a
layer of irregular brick fragments. Generally the elevated floor in
this space matches the level of the narthex flooring. There are good
grounds to situate another western entrance to the naoj in the
robbed out western wall of this space. It could have been cut
through when the main entrance to the nap.? was blocked by the
huge sandstone column base dragged from outside.
On the original mosaic flooring level in the northwestern
space a curious font-like container was built against the northern
divider separating this space from the f?<%?j. It was built using
materials easily dissolved in water, so it could not have served as
a tank. It was found filled to the upper edge with desert pebbles of
the same size and colour as the pebbles used for the mosaic. There
was a venerated mural on the wall above the container in question.
On top of the pebbles an oil lamp was found. It had left
smoke stains on the eastern wall of the space and on the pebbles.
Perhaps it is a rare i?of?<3 y?^ Nubian liturgical innovation.
Worshippers could have collected the pebbles in the desert and
brought them to the church where they could have been used for
floor repairs. Donating the pebbles could have been connected with
a vow or some religious expectations. Its worth noting that in
modern popular Nubian beliefs white pebbles laid on Muslim
graves symbolize prayers.
The pottery found within the church belongs to the latest
phase of the building's use. Late Christian lamps dominate the
forms. Altogether fifty lamps have been found, most of them
placed on the floor level along the eastern wall of the and
if? f/?f p<3.$fq/bfi<3J. Most of the lamps were used till the stone-hard
layer of burnt oil transformed them into shapeless nodules.
Murals were introduced at an unspecified later period, at
least in the northern aisle. Once venerated by the lamps put on the
flooring below them, they disappeared together with the robbed out
walls. Of the later painted decoration only 127 tiny pieces of
104
layer of irregular brick fragments. Generally the elevated floor in
this space matches the level of the narthex flooring. There are good
grounds to situate another western entrance to the naoj in the
robbed out western wall of this space. It could have been cut
through when the main entrance to the nap.? was blocked by the
huge sandstone column base dragged from outside.
On the original mosaic flooring level in the northwestern
space a curious font-like container was built against the northern
divider separating this space from the f?<%?j. It was built using
materials easily dissolved in water, so it could not have served as
a tank. It was found filled to the upper edge with desert pebbles of
the same size and colour as the pebbles used for the mosaic. There
was a venerated mural on the wall above the container in question.
On top of the pebbles an oil lamp was found. It had left
smoke stains on the eastern wall of the space and on the pebbles.
Perhaps it is a rare i?of?<3 y?^ Nubian liturgical innovation.
Worshippers could have collected the pebbles in the desert and
brought them to the church where they could have been used for
floor repairs. Donating the pebbles could have been connected with
a vow or some religious expectations. Its worth noting that in
modern popular Nubian beliefs white pebbles laid on Muslim
graves symbolize prayers.
The pottery found within the church belongs to the latest
phase of the building's use. Late Christian lamps dominate the
forms. Altogether fifty lamps have been found, most of them
placed on the floor level along the eastern wall of the and
if? f/?f p<3.$fq/bfi<3J. Most of the lamps were used till the stone-hard
layer of burnt oil transformed them into shapeless nodules.
Murals were introduced at an unspecified later period, at
least in the northern aisle. Once venerated by the lamps put on the
flooring below them, they disappeared together with the robbed out
walls. Of the later painted decoration only 127 tiny pieces of
104