Archaeologists Find Original Floor of Nubia’s Largest Cathedral
Excavators at Old Dongola in Sudan uncovered part of the original floor of the Great Church of Jesus, a Nubian cathedral 187 feet long. Here is what was found.
Archaeologists digging inside the Great Church of Jesus at Old Dongola in northern Sudan have uncovered a section of the building’s original floor for the first time, Archaeology Magazine reported, citing an IFL Science report. The team also found the base of a vast staircase.
The church was the largest medieval cathedral in Nubia. The work was carried out jointly by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw and Sudan’s National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums.
A cathedral that dominated its capital
Old Dongola was the capital of Makuria, a Nubian kingdom that converted to Christianity in the sixth century A.D. According to the report, the cathedral measured 154 feet wide and 187 feet long and stood over six stories high. It dominated the ancient city.
The building was one of the most monumental and important Christian structures in Nubia. It likely served as the seat of the Bishop of Dongola, described as one of the most senior Christian figures in medieval sub-Saharan Africa.
What the team found
The newly exposed floor is the surface where medieval worshippers once walked. The staircase base, described as vast, was found alongside it. The reports do not give the date of the floor, the materials used, or the size of the exposed section, and they do not say whether the results have been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The finds come from excavation, so they are direct observations of the structure rather than models or estimates.
Why it matters: a possible architectural model
Expedition director Artur Obłuski of the University of Warsaw compared the church’s potential influence to that of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul. “The Great Church of Jesus appears to be a natural candidate for such a role in Nubia,” he said, adding that this might extend to other parts of Africa.
His wording is cautious: the church “appears to be” a candidate, and the claim that it set trends for other buildings has not been demonstrated in the sources. An original floor gives researchers a fixed reference level for understanding how the interior was laid out and used in the Middle Ages.
Archaeology Magazine pointed readers to earlier work at the site, including “A Painted Prayer,” one of its Top 10 Discoveries of 2023.
Source: Archaeology Magazine
