Kerma culture
Kingdom of Kerma | |||||||
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c. 2500 BC–c. 1500 BC | |||||||
Capital | Kerma | ||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||
hkꜣw | |||||||
History | |||||||
• Established | c. 2500 BC | ||||||
• Disestablished | c. 1500 BC | ||||||
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The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in
Site
The primary site of Kerma that forms the heart of the Kingdom of Kerma includes both an extensive town and a cemetery consisting of large tumuli. The level of affluence at the site demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of Kerma, especially during the Second Intermediate Period when the Kermans threatened the southern borders of Egypt.[2]
Ecopolitical structure
Until recently, the Kerma civilisation was known only from the townsite and cemeteries of its metropolitan centre and smaller sites in Kerma, Sudan. However, recent survey and excavation work has identified many new sites south of Kerma, many located on channels of the Nile, now dry, which lay to the east of the modern course of the river. This pattern of settlement indicates a substantial population and for the first time provides us with some sort of context in which we can place Kerma itself. Survey work in advance of the Merowe Dam at the Fourth Cataract has confirmed the presence of Kerma sites at least as far upriver as the Abu Hamad/Mograt Island area.[3][4]
Kerma was evidently a sizable political entity - Egyptian records speak of its rich and populous agricultural regions. Unlike Egypt, Kerma seems to have been highly centralized. It controlled the 1st to 4th Cataracts, which meant its domain was as extensive as ancient Egypt.[5][6]
Numerous village communities scattered alongside fields of crops made up the bulk of the realm, but there also seems to have been districts where pastoralism (goat, sheep and cattle) and gold processing were important industries.[7] Certain Kerma towns served to centralize agricultural products and direct trade. Analysis of the skulls of thousands of cattle interred in royal Kerma tombs suggest that stock were sometimes brought vast distances, from far districts, presumably as a type of tribute from rural communities on the death of Kerma's monarchs. This parallels the importance of cattle as royal property in other parts of Africa at later times.
Evidence for settled agriculture in the region dates from the pre-Kerma period, c. 3500-2500 BC,[8][9] whilst copper metallurgy is attested at Kerma from c. 2200-2000 BC.[10]
Only the centres of Kerma and
History
Egyptian
The last mention in Sudan of an Old Kingdom of Egypt
Regional contacts
The
For many centuries, the Gash people were included in the circuit of interchange between Egypt and the southern regions of the Nile valley, so Mahal Teglinos became an important commercial partner of the Kerma state. This trade activity clearly contributed to the rise of complex societies in the region.[14]
By 2300 BC, the Early C-Group culture was also appearing in Lower Nubia, most likely arriving from Dongola Reach (near Kerma). Thus, by the second millennium BC, Kerma was the centre of a large kingdom, probably the first in the Eastern Sudan, that rivalled Egypt.[13]
Egyptian Middle Kingdom period
The Middle Kerma Period, coinciding with the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, continued from the reigns of Amenemhat I to Sobekhotep IV (c. 1990-1725 BC).
The long history of Egyptian military activity in Lower Nubia may indicate that Kerma was perceived as a threat to Pharaonic Egypt at varying times. Principal Egyptian fortifications were built in the middle Nile Valley during the Middle Kingdom.[15] These were to secure the Upper Egyptian border against raids from Kerma, and more than likely and to protect the valuable trade routes between the two regions.[3] Both during the Middle and New Kingdoms, the resources Kerma possessed – gold, cattle, milk products, ebony, incense, ivory, etc. – were much coveted by Egypt. Its army were built around archers.[16]
Yet, Egyptian control weakened during the
During its zenith, Kerma formed a partnership with the Hyksos and tried to crush Egypt. Discoveries in 2003 at the Governor of El Kab's Tomb (near Thebes) show that Kerma invaded deep into Egypt between 1575 and 1550 BC. It is believed that this was one of Egypt's most humiliating defeats, which later pharaohs had erased from the official historic records. Many royal statues and monuments were looted from Egypt and removed to Kerma, apparently as a gesture of triumph by Kerma's ruler.[17]
New Kingdom period
Under
The
The extent of cultural/political continuity between the Kingdom of Kerma and the chronologically succeeding Kingdom of Kush is difficult to determine. The latter polity began to emerge around 1000 BC, around 500 years after the end of the Kingdom of Kerma.[13]: 75, 112 Initially, the Kushite kings continued to use Kerma for royal burials and special ceremonies, suggesting some connection. Moreover, the layout of royal funerary compounds in both Kerma and Napata (the Kush capital) are similarly designed. Caches of statues of Kush's pharaohs have also been discovered at Kerma, suggesting that the Napatan rulers recognized a historic link between their capital and Kerma.
Language
The linguistic affiliation of the Kerma culture is currently unknown, and membership to both the
According to Peter Behrens (1981) and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst (2000), linguistic evidence indicates that the Kerma peoples spoke Afroasiatic languages of the
Claude Rilly (2010, 2016) on the other hand, suggests that the Kerma peoples spoke Nilo-Saharan languages of the
Julien Cooper (2017) also suggests that Nilo-Saharan languages of the Eastern Sudanic branch were spoken by the people of Kerma, as well as those further south along the Nile, to the west, and those of Saï (an island to the north of Kerma), but that Afro-Asiatic (most likely Cushitic) languages were spoken by other peoples in Lower Nubia (such as the Medjay and the C-Group culture) living in Nubian regions north of Saï toward Egypt and those southeast of the Nile in Punt in the Eastern dessert. Based partly on an analysis of the phonology of place names and personal names from the relevant regions preserved in ancient texts, he argues that the terms from "Kush" and "Irem" (ancient names for Kerma and the region south of it respectively) in Egyptian texts display traits typical of Eastern Sudanic languages, while those from further north (in Lower Nubia) and east are more typical of the Afro-Asiatic family, noting: "The Irem-list also provides a similar inventory to Kush, placing this firmly in an Eastern Sudanic zone. These Irem/Kush-lists are distinctive from the Wawat-, Medjay-, Punt-, and Wetenet-lists, which provide sounds typical to Afroasiatic languages."[25]
Cooper (2017, 2020) suggests that an Eastern Sudanic language (perhaps early Meroitic) was spoken at Kerma by at least 1800 BC (the time from which toponymic evidence is available), whose arrival, and that of a new ethno-linguistic group, around that time may perhaps be indicated by a change in placenames for Upper Nubia used in Egyptian execration texts. However, Cooper also proposes that a similar Eastern Sudanic language may have been already spoken in Upper Nubia, both at Kerma and the Saï polity to its north, earlier (by Kerma Moyen, which began around 2050 BC), while north of Saï, in Lower Nubia, Cushitic languages were spoken and much later replaced by Meroitic. It is posited that early Meroitic spread, displacing Eastern Sudanic and Cushitic languages along the Nile."[26]
Archaeology
20th century archaeology
When Kerma was first excavated in the 1920s, George Andrew Reisner believed that it originally served as the base for or was a fort of an Egyptian governor, and that these Egyptian rulers evolved into the independent monarchs of Kerma. Reisner's interpretation was predicated on the presence of inscribed Egyptian statues in the large burials, which he thought belonged to those named individuals. Thus, scholars accepted the view that Kerma was a trading outpost of the Egyptians, being too small and far away from the known borders of ancient Egypt to be more directly linked to it.
It was only starting in mid-20th century that excavations began to reveal that Kerma city was much larger and more complex than previously assumed.[27] It was also realized that the material culture and burial practices here are overwhelmingly of local Kerman origin rather than Egyptian.
Swiss archaeologist Charles Bonnet was among the first scholars to challenge Reisner's views and, according to him, it took 20 years for Egyptologists to accept his arguments.[27]
21st century archaeology and biological anthropology
In 2003, archaeologist Charles Bonnet heading a team of Swiss archaeologists excavating near Kerma discovered a cache of monumental black granite statues of the Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt now exposed in the Kerma Museum. Among the sculptures were ones belonging to the dynasty's last two pharaohs, Taharqa and Tanoutamon, whose statues are described as "masterpieces that rank among the greatest in art history."[28]
Craniometric analysis of Kerma fossils comparing them to various other early populations inhabiting the
Dental trait analysis of Kerma fossils found affinities with various populations inhabiting the
Claude Rilly, citing anthropologist Christian Simon, reports that the population of the Kingdom of Kerma was morphologically heterogeneous, with three main clusters in terms of morphological tendencies (A, B, C): Cluster A is similar to a sample of modern Kenyan skeletons. Cluster C is similar to a sample of Middle Empire skeletons from the region of Assuan, and Cluster B, which although distinct from Cluster C, shares many common features with it. He notes that clusters A and B were present in Early Kerma in ("Kerma ancien") but became the majority in the following Middle Kerma ("Kerma moyen"), and that Cluster C was mainly present in early Kerma and "possibly represents the descendency of the Pre-Kerma population that founded Kerma 4 km away from the original settlement, when the Nile riverbed shrunk..." Rilly continues: "However, the fact that their cemetery remained on the ancestral site might indicate cultural and ethnical continuity between Pre-Kerma and the new city. Cluster A and B were already present in Kerma ancien, but become majoritary in the following stage."[22]
S.O.Y. Keita, conducted an anthropological study which examined the crania of groups in the North African region which included samples from Kerma, circa 2000 BC, the Maghreb region, circa 1500 BC, and 1st dynasty crania from the royal tombs in Abydos, Egypt. The results of the study determined the predominant pattern of the
See also
Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic, or Copper Age |
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↑ Stone Age ↑ Neolithic |
↓ Bronze Age ↓ Iron Age |
References
- S2CID 154430884.
- ^ Hafsaas-Tsakos, H. (2010). Between Kush and Egypt: The C-Group People of Lower Nubia. pp. 393-394.
- ^ a b Edwards, David N. "Archaeology in Sudan". Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ Welsby, Derek (2003). Survey above the Fourth Nile Cataract.
- ISBN 9781444338386. She states, "To date, Kerma-culture has been found from the region of the First Cataract to upstream of the Fourth Cataract."
- ^ Buzon, Michele (2011). "Nubian identity in the Bronze Age. Patterns of cultural and biological variation". Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ Staff (19 June 2007). "Gold Processing Center Discovered in the Ancient Kingdom of Kush". Culture Kiosque. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-2-9700394-7-1.
c'est à partir de 3000 av. J.-C. avec la culture Pré-Kerma que l'on dispose à nouveau d'informations, grâce à la fouille de quelques établissements. … Les échanges avec l'Egypte sont encore rares dans cette société qui commence à pratiquer une agriculture plus intensive supposant le recours à l'irrigation, tout en maintenant sa tradition pastorale héritée du Néolithique." English translation: "it is from 3000 BC with the Pre-Kerma culture that we again have information, thanks to the excavation of a few establishments. ... Exchanges with Egypt were still rare in this society which was beginning to practice more intensive agriculture requiring the use of irrigation, while maintaining its pastoral tradition inherited from the Neolithic.
- PMID 36730175.
Convincing evidence for local agricultural production is associated with the later pre-Kerma period (3500–2500 BCE) with site 8-B-52A on Sai Island consisting of numerous storage pits in which macrobotanical crop remains were occasionally preserved.
- ISBN 978-3-319-11640-2.
- ISBN 978-977-416-010-3.
- ^ a b P. DeMola (2013), Interrelations of Kerma and Pharaonic Egypt. worldhistory.org
- ^ ISBN 9780415369886.
- ^ a b RODOLFO FATTOVICH (1993), The Gash Group of the Eastern Sudan: an outline uni-heidelberg.de
- ^ De Mola, Paul J. "Interrelations of Kerma and Pharaonic Egypt". Ancient History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/487/.
- ^ "Kerma Culture". The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago.
- ^ "Tomb Reveals Ancient Egypt's Humiliating Secrets". Daily Times. 29 July 2003. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
- ^ De Mola, Paul J. "Interrelations of Kerma and Pharaonic Egypt". Ancient History Encyclopedia: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/487/
- ^ "Jebal Barkal: History and Archaeology of Ancient Napata". Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1135434168. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ISBN 978-9231023767. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ a b Rilly C (2010). "Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan" (PDF). pp. 18–19.
- S2CID 134352296.
- ISBN 9788323533269.
- ^ Cooper J (2017). "Toponymic Strata in Ancient Nubian placenames in the Third and Second Millennium BC: a view from Egyptian Records". Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies. 4: 201–202, 204. Archived from the original on 2020-05-23.
- ^ cooper, julien (2020). "Egyptian among Neighboring African languages". UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology.
- ^ a b Isma'il Kushkush (2020), In the Land of Kush. A dazzling civilization flourished in Sudan nearly 5,000 years ago. Why was it forgotten? smithsonianmag.com
- ^ "Digging into Africa's past". Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
- ^ Lahr, Marta Mirazon. "Human Skeletal Remains, Fazzan, Libya".
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(help) - ] - cf. Table 6
- ^ Haddow, Scott Donald. "Dental Morphological Analysis of Roman Era Burials from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt" (PDF). Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- PMID 1562056.
Further reading
- Reisner, G. A. 1923, Excavations at Kerma I-III/IV-V. Harvard African Studies Volume V. Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge Mass.
- Hafsaas-Tsakos, H. 2009, The Kingdom of Kush: An African centre on the periphery of the Bronze Age World System. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 42/1: 50–70.
- 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.
- Bonnet, Charles, 2014, La ville de Kerma, Favre .
- Kendall, Timothy 1997. Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Inst. Washington D.C.
- Bechaus-Gerst, Marianne, 2000, The Origins and Development of African Livestock: Archaeology, Genetics, Linguistics and Ethnography, "Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of livestock in Sudan". Routledge.
External links
- Swiss Archeological Mission: Kerma website - Official website of the Swiss archeological mission to Sudan
- P. DeMola (2013), Interrelations of Kerma and Pharaonic Egypt. worldhistory.org