Title: Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush 2500-1500B.C. (Book Review).
Author(s): Williams, Bruce
Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies; Jul2001, Vol. 60 Issue
3, p196, 2p
Document Type: Book Review
Subject(s): KERMA & the Kingdom of Kush, 2500-1500 B.C. (Book)
KENDALL, Timothy
Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush 2500-1500 B.C.: The Archaeological
Discovery of an Ancient Nubian Empire. By TIMOTHY KENDALL. Washington,
D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1997.
Pp.
xvi + 126 + 79 figs. $29.95.
Published to accompany the exhibition "The Ancient Nubian City of Kerma
2500-1500 B.C." at the National Museum of African Art of the
Smithsonian
Institution, this book is much more than an exhibition catalogue. Most
of the exhibits that have covered Nubian cultures have attempted to
present all of the ancient phases as an introduction to an unfamiliar
complex of civilizations. Thus a battery of substantial exhibitions in
recent years has given Nubia a wide recognition. It is now possible to
mount a display of a specific topic without fear of losing either
coherence or public attention. This has important advantages in that
the
greater depth, definition, and detail can bring the material to life
for
visitors and scholars alike. In this case, a relatively small selection
of Kerma period objects was used as a springboard for substantial
essays
that covered several aspects of the Kerma culture, with notes and
bibliography; the exhibition was not just about the city from whose
necropolis the objects came.
Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush contains five topical essays and a
catalogue dealing with subjects including Nubia and the Nile trade, the
discovery of Kerma, Kerma's evolution, the development of the city of
Kerma, the necropolis, and the Kushite collapse and renaissance. The
first of these is a brief account of Nubian geography, culture, and
interactions with Egypt before the end of the Middle Kingdom. While the
chapter concentrates on Reisner, it also deals with challenges to his
interpretations, the present reconstruction of Kerma as capital of
early
Kush, and the extensive Swiss excavations carried out since the 1970s.
These seasons have transformed the city and culture of Kerma from
mighty
but isolated fragments into a metropolis of high complexity. From the
work at Sai, summarized by Gratien, and that at Kerma, led by Bonnet,
the civilization has been given a robust chronology that begins in the
Old Kingdom as a kind of southern region of C-Group and reaches a
pinnacle as a precursor of the great Kushite Empire of the first
millennium. Kerma as a city, the third topic, is really a discovery of
Bonnet, as revealed in the reconstructed model (fig. 16) and plan (fig.
17). It is now believed that the city was located on one or more
islands,[1] and this circumstance may help us to understand better some
of the irregularly shaped ditches and ramparts described in the text. A
large round house prominent in the center of the plan slightly
southwest
of the mighty brick deffufa, "fortress," the temple that dominates the
site, is thought to have been a palace but might better be considered
an
audience hall than a complete residence. It should also be remembered
that this city contained not just buildings, magazines, temples, and
ramparts but evidence of some important industries other than pottery
and faience, notably casting metals.[2] The cemetery is as impressive
as
the city, and it was the development here that both established the
chronology and revealed the huge wealth and power that accrued to
Kerma.
In particular, the latest great tumuli, far larger than any
contemporary
tombs from Egypt were of rulers that would have been worthy rivals to
the Egyptians. Kendall delineates the development of the burials
without
shrinking from the difficult subject of sacrifice by inhumation, which
he has carefully analyzed.
For Kendall, the end of early Kush, the New Kingdom, and the rise of
new
Kush at Gebel Barkal are not afterthoughts but a chance to present some
of his own recent experience there in the light of Kerma. It is likely
that the deffufa structures at Kerma were representations in brick of
the butte-like gebels that dot the landscape of Upper Nubia at wide
intervals, providing distinctive landmarks in an otherwise repetitive
landscape and a kind of natural religious focus. At Barkal, this found
its greatest expression in the uraeus-peak and the temples of the
ram-headed Amun below, a form of the god that may have had its origin
at
Kerma, although this opinion warrants some further critical
examination.
The objects in the catalogue are introduced by brief essays for each
category, pottery, beds (and inlays), warrior's equipment, jewelry, and
Egyptian imports, with entries providing dimensions, context, museum
number, and bibliography. All are illustrated in color. Although this
is
not intended to be more than a representation of the finds, viewers
will
find the bed inlays, with their religious implications, the dagger, a
large fly pendant, and a glazed quartz crystal pendant particularly
interesting as links with earlier and later times. The fly appears on
Kushites shown bearing tribute in New Kingdom paintings, and it was
adopted as an Egyptian military decoration. Its earlier antecedent
actually appeared in A-Group, a golden fly found in Cemetery L at
Qustul. The quartz crystal, on the other hand, might be a precedent for
the decorated crystals found in Napatan times.
If the exhibit was modest and limited in scope, the book that
catalogues
it is much more, a substantial introduction to Kerma as we now see it,
filled with excellent illustrations, scholarly resources, and some
fresh
ideas.
1. Charles Bonnet, personal communication, 1998.
2. Idem, "Les fouilles archeologiques de Kerma (Soudan): Rapport
preliminaire des campagnes de 1980-1981 et de 1981-1982," Genava, n.s.,
30 [1983]: 34-39.
~~~~~~~~
By Bruce Williams, The University of Chicago