Monumental mud-brick architecture of Kerma (deffufa)
Arquitectura monumental de adobe de Kerma (deffufa)
- Date
- c. 2000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Kerma, Northern State, Sudan
- Credited to
- Kingdom of Kerma (Kush)
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A massive mud-brick temple about 18 m high, the centre of the first city south of Egypt. It shows a distinct Nubian architectural and urban tradition, a rival to Egypt for centuries.
Excavated by Reisner and, from 1977, by Charles Bonnet. The city of Kerma flourished c. 2500-1500 BCE.
What it led to
- the first urban capital of sub-Saharan Africa
- the state of Kush as a power of the Nile Valley
- Nubian religious architecture independent of Egypt's