The Kushite temple in Soniyat after the 2016 season

Abstract

Archaeological fieldwork in the Kushite temple in Soniyat (Tergis 40) was conducted from 1997 to 2001 with an additional short season in 2013. A team supervised by Bogdan Żurawski returned to the site in 2016 to continue the excavation of the southern section of the complex. Remains of substantial mud-brick architecture were discovered together with large quantities of small finds (potsherds and objects made of metal, stone and faience) and faunal remains. A compact layer of Nile alluvial deposits, about 0.10 m thick, covering the remains represented evidence most probably of a flood. A single stone column was visible at that level. The spatial distribution of the discovered architectural features matches the temple orientation; they can be interpreted as the remains of a pylon with an entrance flanked by columns

Keywords

• Kushite temple
• Kushite architecture
• Meroitic period
• Napatan period
• Soniyat
• Sudan