MegalithFringe site
Kerma
Datedc. 3500–1100 BCE
Photo Lassi · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Kerma was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kerma, which had its roots in the pre-Kerma culture of present-day Sudan from 3500 BC. It is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia, and decades of excavation have produced thousands of graves and tombs and the residential quarters of the main city surrounding the Western, or Lower, Deffufa.
The area was first settled by hunter-gatherers around 8350 BC. The city developed around a large adobe temple, the Western Deffufa, built after 1750 BC. By 1700 BC Kerma was host to a population of at least 10,000 people.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Kerma
After the sacking of Kerma, the cemetery was used for the kings of the 25th or Napatan dynasty of the Kingdom of Kush.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Between 5550 BC and 5150 BC the site was mostly abandoned, possibly because of decreased Nile flow, and a second hiatus occurred between 4050 BC and 3450 BC, likely as a result of minimal flow from the White Nile. Around 3000 BC agriculture developed and a cultural tradition began around Kerma. A state society formed between 2550 BC and 1550 BC, with a significant decrease in cattle breeding evident in the archaeological record around 1750 BC, and evidence for copper metallurgy appears from c. 2200-2000 BC.
The settlement periods are given as Pre-Kerma (c. 3500-2500 BC), Early Kerma (c. 2500-2050 BC), Middle Kerma (c. 2050-1750 BC), Classic Kerma (c. 1750-1580 BC), Final Kerma (c. 1580-1500 BC) and Late Kerma (c. 1500-1100? BC), the last corresponding to the New Kingdom. After the sacking of Kerma, the cemetery was used for the kings of the 25th or Napatan dynasty of the Kingdom of Kush.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
The Lower or Western Deffufa, a massive structure, lies closer to the river; the Upper or Eastern Deffufa stands a few kilometres from the river in a cemetery. The base of the Lower Deffufa measures 52.3 m x 26.7 m, or 150 x 100 Egyptian cubits. The cemetery contains over 30,000 graves. Its pattern of larger graves ringed by smaller ones suggests social stratification, and older graves lie in the north with more recent and more complex graves and tombs in the south. At the southern boundary are burial mounds, four of which extend upwards of 90 metres (300 feet) in diameter; these are believed to be the graves of the city's final kings, and some contain motifs and artwork reflecting Egyptian deities such as Horus.
Burials of the Early Kerma period, 2500-2050 BC, are marked by a low, circular superstructure of slabs of black sandstone set in concentric circles and reinforced with white quartz pebbles. Tombs progress from simple mounds to Egyptian-inspired pyramid complexes. Most skeletons lie slightly contracted or contracted on their sides. Because of the arid climate, natural mummification is very common, and soft tissues, hair and organic grave goods such as textiles, feathers and leather are often found. Grave goods include faience beads, cattle skulls and pottery.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Kerma's artefacts differ from those of ancient Egypt in theme and composition and are characterised by extensive amounts of blue faience, which the Kermans learned to work independently of Egypt, and by work in glazed quartzite and architectural inlays. Egyptian influence can nevertheless be seen in many burials: Second Intermediate Egyptian ceramics from Avaris, such as Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware, have been found, and scarab seals and amulets are prolific, indicating extensive trade with Egypt and an exchange of cultural ideas.
The Swiss team also uncovered a bronze workshop with multiple forges within the walls of the religious centre, for which there is no comparable discovery in Egypt or Sudan. In 2003 black granite statues of pharaohs of Egypt's Twenty-fifth Dynasty were found near Kerma and are displayed on site in the Kerma Museum.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
Early work was carried out by George Reisner, of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, who led the Harvard-Boston expedition during three field seasons at Kerma (1913-1916). His work established a basic chronology of Kerman culture. Seeing many links with Egypt, he took the Lower Deffufa to be a fort and the large quadrangular deffufa structures to be funerary chapels, and regarded Kerma as a satellite city of the Egyptians.
From 1977 to 2003 Charles Bonnet and an international team excavated at Kerma. Their work showed that this view was mistaken and revealed a vast independent urban complex that ruled most of the Third Cataract for centuries, with houses, workshops and palaces, a princely tomb, a temple, fortifications, Napatan buildings and Meroitic cemeteries. Some scholars note an animistic rather than polytheistic religious tradition at Kerma before the New Kingdom.
Bonnet noted that sacrificial victims appear and become increasingly common in the Middle Kerma period. A later bioarchaeological examination found no significant differences in skeletal-stress markers between sacrificed and non-sacrificed individuals, and the evidence does not support the interpretation of accompanying individuals as sacrificed wives.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Other prehistoric stone monuments
The Atlas uses the heading "other" for stone monuments that fit none of its other types, and the same article serves for underground chambers that have no regional article. The records are varied. Many are ziggurats, Egyptian temples and pyramids, and Maya and Andean sites, which are treated in their own articles. What remains is a scatter of single sites in many countries whose descriptions do not allow a closer classification.
Several of these are underground. A hypogeum is literally an "underground" temple or tomb, often with niches for cremated remains or loculi for buried remains. An early example is found at the Minoan Bronze Age site of Knossos on Crete, a beehive-shaped vault cut into soft rock. The Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni in Paola, Malta, is the oldest example of a prehistoric hypogeum, with its earliest phase dated to 3600 to 3300 BCE. It is a complex of underground chambers, halls and passages covering about 500 square metres on three levels, partly carved to imitate temple architecture and containing extensive prehistoric art.
A rock-cut tomb is cut into an existing rock formation, usually a cliff or sloping rock face, and was a common burial form for the wealthy in several parts of the world. Famous clusters are in Egypt, Iran, Lycia in Turkey, Petra in Jordan and Sicily. Phrygian rock-cut tombs such as the Midas monument date to about 700 BCE, and Etruscan ones to about 500 BCE.
The general rule for these records is that the type tells you how a monument was made, not who made it or when. Dating is taken from the source for each site where a source gives one, and otherwise left as a broad range.
When visiting, read the site's own description first, since the Atlas can offer only a general frame.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megalith, Wikipedia: Hypogeum, Wikipedia: Rock-cut tomb, Wikipedia: Stele · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 8350 BCE
The locale that is now Kerma was first settled by hunter-gatherers around 8350 BC, during the Mesolithic.
Source - 5550 BCE
Between 5550 BC and 5150 BC, the site was mostly abandoned, possibly due to decreased Nile flow during this time interval.
Source - 4050 BCE
A second hiatus in occupation occurred between 4050 BC and 3450 BC, likely as a result of minimal flow from the White Nile.
Source - 3500 BCE
Kerma was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kerma, which had its roots in the pre-Kerma culture in present-day Sudan from 3500 BC.
Source - 3000 BCE
Around 3000 BC, agriculture developed and a cultural tradition began around Kerma.
Source - 2550 BCE
A state society formed between 2550 BC and 1550 BC, with a significant decrease in cattle breeding being evidenced by the archaeological record around 1750 BC.
Source - 2500 BCE
Pre-Kerma (c. 3500–2500 BC) No C-Group culture Phase Early Kerma (c. 2500–2050 BC) C-Group Phase Ia–Ib Middle Kerma (c. 2050–1750 BC) C-Group Phase Ib–IIa Classic Kerma (c. 1750–1580 BC) C-Group Phase IIb–III Final Kerma (c. 1580–1500 BC) C-Group Phase IIb–III Late Kerma – "New Kingdom" (c. 1500–1100?
Source - 2050 BCE
"In the Early Kerma period, 2500-2050 BC, burials are marked by a low, circular superstructure of slabs of black sandstone, stuck into the ground in concentric circles.
Source - 2000 BCE
Evidence for copper metallurgy appears from c. 2200–2000 BC.
Source - 2000 BCE
"The patient and diligent work of Bonnet and his colleagues unearthed the foundations of numerous houses, workshops, and palaces, proving that as early as 2000 BC Kerma was a large urban center, presumably the capital city and a burial ground of the kings of Kush." From 1977 to 2003, Bonnet and an international...
Source - 2000 BCE
Keita conducted an anthropological study in which he examined the crania of groups in the North African region, including samples from Kerma c. 2000 BC and the Maghreb c. 1500 BC, as well as First Dynasty crania from the royal tombs in Abydos, Egypt.
Source - 1750 BCE
Kerma later developed into a large urban center that was built around a large adobe temple known as the Western Deffufa, which was built after 1750 BC.
Source - 1700 BCE
By 1700 BC, Kerma was host to a population of at least 10,000 people.
Source - 1907
He worked in Egypt and Sudan for 25 years, 1907–1932. As Kerma was one of the earliest sites to be excavated in this region, Reisner's contributions to the region's archaeology are fundamental.
Source
Photographs
7 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
3500–1100 BCEHow this date was established: Historical sourcesThe range covers the settlement periods and cultural phases attributed to Kerma and its New Kingdom continuation.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Status
- capital of the Kingdom of KermaSource: Status
- First settlement
- around 8350 BC by hunter-gatherersSource: First settlement
- Major temple
- the large adobe Western DeffufaSource: Major temple
- Copper metallurgy
- c. 2200–2000 BCSource: Copper metallurgy
- Burial arrangement
- older graves in the north and more recent, complex graves and tombs in the southSource: Burial arrangement
- Religious tradition
- some scholars identify an animistic tradition in pre-New Kingdom KermaSource: Religious tradition
- Heritage designation
- Tentative World Heritage SiteSource: Heritage designation
Where it stands
Sudan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 19°36′03″ N, 30°24′35″ EFor a GPS or map app: 19.60080, 30.40973
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1107569wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Kerma city.JPGLassiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Western Deffufa - Kerma.jpgwalter callensCC BY 2.0
- Kerma-Deffufa.jpgLassiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Dovecote Kerma.jpgBertramzCC BY 3.0
- Kerma homestead.jpgBertramzCC BY 3.0
- Mosque in the bank of the Nile River in Northern Sudan.jpgKoulou'mOurtiCC0
- Kerma Statue.jpgMustafaOCC BY-SA 4.0
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Kerma" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): KermaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1107569CC0