/ 22 February 2000

ANCIENT TEMPLE FOUND IN SUDAN

POLISH archeologists have found the ruins of a large Egyptian temple in Sudan dating from the New Kingdom era of 1580-1085 B.C. The ruins run for some 500 meters along the right bank of the Nile at Hudjeir Gubli, near El Arak, with walls 107 centimeters thick and fragments of columns measuring 200-250 centimeters in diameter. The archeologists stumbled on the temple by accident at a local farm, where expedition leader Bogdan Zurawski had gone for water. The stone foundations of the temple were well preserved, but the walls had been used for centuries by local residents as a source of construction materials. The archeologists suggested that an ancient Egyptian city may have been located nearby.