Kerma Museum

Last updated
Kerma Museum
mtHf krm@.jpg
The Kerma site museum
Kerma Museum
Established2008
LocationArcheological site of Kerma, Flag of Sudan.svg  Sudan
Coordinates 19°36′2.89″N30°24′35.03″E / 19.6008028°N 30.4097306°E / 19.6008028; 30.4097306
TypeArchaeological collection
Website kerma.ch/en/musee

The Kerma Museum is an archeological site museum located in front of the Western Deffufa on the archaeological site of Kerma, in the Northern State of Sudan. It opened in 2008 and contains many archaeological items removed from the Kerma culture, as well as a section focusing on the Christian and Islamic history of the region.

Contents

Architecture

The building of the museum is inspired by the traditional Nubian vaulted roof.

Displays

The museum contains artefacts of the main periods of the Kerma culture: Prehistory, Kingdoms of Kerma, Napata and Meroë.

The highlight of the Kerma Museum are seven black granite statues uncovered in a ditch at the nearby site of Dukki Gel in 2003 by an archaeological team headed by Charles Bonnet. Deliberately broken, [1] but in an excellent state of preservation, in the central room of the Museum are displayed the entirely reassembled statues portraying the Nubian Pharaohs Taharqa, Tanwetamani, Senkamanisken, Anlamani, and Aspelta, who ruled Egypt in the 25th Dynasty. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taharqa</span> King of Kush and pharaoh of Egypt

Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo, was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of Kush from 690 to 664 BC. He was one of the "Black Pharaohs" who ruled over Egypt for nearly a century, or one of the Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt, since the traditional representation of the 25th dynasty as "Black Pharaohs" has drawn criticism from scholars, specifically because the term suggests that other dynasties did not share similar southern origins.. They also argue that the term ignores the genetic continuum that linked ancient Nubians and Egyptians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psamtik II</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Psamtik II, known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus, was a king of the Saite-based Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. His prenomen, Nefer-Ib-Re, means "Beautiful [is the] Heart [of] Re." He was the son of Necho II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nubian pyramids</span> Pyramids built by ancient Kushite kingdoms in present-day northern Sudan

The Nubian pyramids were built by the rulers of the ancient Kushite kingdoms. The area of the Nile valley known as Nubia, which lies in northern present-day Sudan, was the site of three Kushite kingdoms during antiquity. The capital of the first was at Kerma. The second was centered on Napata. The third kingdom was centered on Meroë. The pyramids are built of granite and sandstone.

Tantamani, also known as Tanutamun or Tanwetamani was ruler of the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan, and the last pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. His prenomen or royal name was Bakare, which means "Glorious is the Soul of Re."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspelta</span> Kushite King of Napata

Aspelta was a ruler of the kingdom of Kush. More is known about him and his reign than most of the rulers of Kush. He left several stelae carved with accounts of his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerma culture</span> Ancient Sudanese kingdom

The Kingdom of Kerma or the Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia", and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of a number of Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700 to 1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Around 1500 BC, it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. By the eleventh century BC, the more-Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jebel Barkal</span> Archaeological Site in Sudan

Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal is a mesa or large rock outcrop located 400 km north of Khartoum, next to Karima in Northern State in Sudan, on the Nile River, in the region that is sometimes called Nubia. The jebel is 104 m tall, has a flat top, and came to have religious significance for both ancient Kush and ancient Egyptian occupiers. In 2003, the mountain, together with the extensive archaeological site at its base, were named as the center of a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Jebel Barkal area houses the Jebel Barkal Museum.

Napata was a city of ancient Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile founded by the Egyptian Amun cult for Egyptian pilgrims given by its, as suggested, Egyptian name. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from the east side of the river at the site of modern Karima, Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Andrew Reisner</span> American archaeologist

George Andrew Reisner Jr. was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Sudan</span> Museum for the history of Sudan

The National Museum of Sudan or Sudan National Museum, abbreviated SNM, is a two-story building, constructed in 1955 and established as national museum in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senkamanisken</span> Kushite King

Senkamanisken was a Kushite King who ruled from 640 to 620 BC at Napata. He used royal titles based on those of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.Török, László (1997). The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10448-8.</ref>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anlamani</span> Kushite king

Anlamani was a king of the Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, who ruled from 620 BC and died around 600 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuri</span> Kushite cemetery in Sudan

Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanersa</span> Kushite king of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia in the 7th century BC

Atlanersa was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th century BC. He was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Taharqa or less likely of Tantamani, while his mother was a queen whose name is only partially preserved. Atlanersa's reign immediately followed the collapse of Nubian control over Egypt, which witnessed the Assyrian conquest of Egypt and then the beginning of the Late Period under Psamtik I. The same period also saw the progressive cultural integration of Egyptian beliefs by the Kushite civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nubian architecture</span> Architecture from the African region of Nubia

Nubian architecture is diverse and ancient. Permanent villages have been found in Nubia, which date from 6000 BC. These villages were roughly contemporary with the walled town of Jericho in Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nubia</span> Region in northern Sudan and southern Egypt

Nubia is a region along the Nile river encompassing the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, and the area between the first cataract of the Nile or more strictly, Al Dabbah. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, the Kerma culture, which lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Egypt under Pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC, whose heirs ruled most of Nubia for the next 400 years. Nubia was home to several empires, most prominently the Kingdom of Kush, which conquered Egypt in the eighth century BC during the reign of Piye and ruled the country as its 25th Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Kush</span> Ancient kingdom in Nubia, Africa

The Kingdom of Kush, also known as the Kushite Empire, or simply Kush, was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt</span> Kushite rule in Egypt during the third intermediate period

The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Kushite invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Amun, Jebel Barkal</span> Sudanese temple

The Temple of Amun is an archaeological site at Jebel Barkal in Northern State, Sudan. It is situated about 400 kilometres (250 mi) north of Khartoum near Karima. The temple stands near a large bend of the Nile River, in the region that was called Nubia in ancient times. The Temple of Amun, one of the largest temples at Jebel Barkal, is considered sacred to the local population. Not only was the Amun temple a main centre of what at one time was considered to be an almost universal religion, but, along with the other archaeological sites at Jebel Barkal, it was representative of the revival of Egyptian religious values. Up to the middle of the 19th century, the temple was subjected to vandalism, destruction, and indiscriminate plundering, before it came under state protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanimalel</span> Kushite queen

Amanimalel was a Kushite queen of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, likely a spouse of king Senkamanisken living in the second half of the 7th century BC. She is mostly known from one or possibly two statues of her of very high quality.

References

  1. The finding of the statue cache in 2003
  2. "Web site of the Kerma Museum". Archived from the original on 2020-06-08. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  3. Elshazly, Hesham. "Kerma and the royal cache".