Kingdom of Kerma

The Kingdom of Kerma was a state in Nubia from around 2500 BC to about 1520 BC. It was based in the city of Kerma in Upper Nubia and emerged as a major centre during the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt. It had a distinct civilization (for example very fine and original ceramics have been found).

The site of Kerma includes both an extensive town and a cemetery consisting of large tumuli. In the 1920s George Reisner believed that Kerma was originally the base of an Egyptian governor and that these Egyptian rulers evolved into the independent monarchs of Kerma. Reisner's interpretation was based on the presence of inscribed Egyptian statues in the large burials, which he thought belonged to those named individuals.

By contrast, modern scholars think the fort was a trading outpost: it was too small and too far away from the known borders of ancient Egypt to be more directly linked to it. Due to the overwhelmingly predominant Nubian material culture and burial practices at the site, scholars now think that the Egyptian statues and other Egyptian objects found at Kerma arrived through trade. The level of affluence at the site demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of Kerma, especially during the Second Intermediate Period when the Nubians threatened the southern borders of Egypt.

During the First Intermediate Period, the Egyptian presence in Lower Nubia disappeared. When at the beginning of the New Kingdom, Egyptian sources again mentioned the region of Kerma, they reported Kerma as in control of both Upper and Lower Nubia.

Under Tuthmosis I, Egypt made several campaigns south. This resulted in their annexation of Nubia and bringing an end to the Kingdom of Kerma.

Currently, Matthieu Honegger is following the work of Charles Bonnet at the Kerma site, and the pace of discoveries has been striking.

In 2003, a Swiss archaeological team working in northern Sudan uncovered one of the most remarkable Egyptological finds in recent years. At the site known as Kerma, near the third cataract of the Nile, archaeologist Charles Bonnet and his team discovered a ditch within a temple from the ancient city of Pnoubs, which contained seven monumental black granite statues. Magnificently sculpted, and in an excellent state of preservation, they portrayed five pharaonic rulers, including Taharqa and Tanoutamon, the last two pharaohs of the 'Nubian' Dynasty, when Egypt was ruled by kings from the lands of modern-day Sudan. For over half a century, the Nubian pharaohs governed a combined kingdom of Egypt and Nubia, with an empire stretching from the Delta to the upper reaches of the Nile. [ [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/870/heritage.htm Digging into Africa's past] ]

Footnotes

References

* Bonnet, Charles, et al. "The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile", AUC Press (February 22, 2007) - ISBN 977416010X
* Bonnet, Charles, et. al, 2005, "Des Pharaohs venus d'Afrique : La cachette de Kerma". Citadelles & Mazenod.
* Bonnet, Charles, 1986, "Kerma, Territoire et Métropole", Institut Français d’Archaéologie Orientale du Caire.
* Kendall, Timothy 1997. "Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush". National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Inst. Washington D.C.
* Reisner, G. A. 1923, "Excavations at Kerma I-III/IV-V". Harvard African Studies Volume V. Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge Mass.