Between 11 and 27 November 2022, LAD members Julian Bogdani and Paolo Rosati will take part in excavation and archaeological research activities at the temple of Hugair Gubli, near the 4th cataract of the Nile in Sudan.
The research project is directed by Prof. Paola Buzi, Full Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Antiquities at Sapienza Università di Roma and Principal Investigator of the ERC-Advanced project PAThs: an Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature.
In January 2020, a survey in the region of the 4th cataract (Upper Nubia, Sudan), conducted in collaboration with the Sudanese National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), aimed to identify an archaeological site where a new research project of the Chair of Egyptology could be launched. This site was identified as the temple of Hugair Gubli, located about 40 km south of Gebel Barkal, which has never been excavated. It is a massive structure preserved at foundation level, whose naos is still clearly legible and which preserves in situ part of the colonnade of the hypostyle hall. Materials found scattered on the surface indicate that the temple’s last phase of use dates to the reign of Aktisanes (late 4th century BC), but there are good reasons to believe that its original core is much older.
The only publication to have discussed it so far is:
- Bogdan Zurawski, Survey and Excavations between Old Dongola and Ez-Zuma, Warsaw 2003, pp. 358-359.
The project is funded by the Sapienza Grandi Scavi di Ateneo programme.
Further information is available in the Research section of the official website of the Chair of Egyptology and Coptic Civilization.