A question of burial chronology: Crypts 1–3 on Kom H at Old Dongola, Sudan

Abstract As the capital of medieval Makuria, Old Dongola, Sudan was one of the largest sites in the region and a center of religious and cultural importance. The annex to the monastery on Kom H at Old Dongola, functioning from the 6/7th through 14/15th c. CE, contains three distinct burial crypts that have been proposed as having been utilized for the burials of social elites, quite likely Makurian Church or monastic officials. Each crypt contains multiple burials, ranging from five (Crypt 3) to seven (Crypts 1 and 2), bringing forth questions of temporality and re-use. Medieval Makurian burials do not typically contain grave goods or personal items, reducing the possibility of establishing temporality through relative dating. In the absence of substantial grave goods allowing for seriation and temporal affiliation of interments, and with only the epitaph of Georgios providing a date of 1113 CE, it has thus far not been possible to differentiate the timeframes of interment for the individuals interred within Crypts 1–3 on Kom H at Old Dongola nor the establishment of these crypts in relation to the monastery. To gain further insight to the periods of use of these crypt burial spaces, 18 human bone collagen samples were submitted for radiocarbon dating at Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory. The results of radiocarbon dating provide novel insights to the use of Crypts 1–3 at the Kom H monastery, allowing for periodization of this burial environment in relation to the larger adjacent medieval cemetery and Old Dongola community.