Meet the Archaeologist Audio Tracks

GENEVIEVE: Today’s exhibition is organized in a timeline format, featuring the three main historical periods of the Kingdom of Kush. Each period is named after the capital of Kush at that time. The first section covers the city of Kerma. Caroline, what was the significance of Kerma within the history of the Kingdom of Kush?

CAROLINE: Kerma is actually really, really cool, and it is really significant, I think, because it is the first archaeologically attested ancient indigenous African kingdom other than Egypt. And we see the rise of Kerma in about 2500 BCE, so that’s like 4,000 years ago Kerma rises.

So they’re really organized. There’s a huge city with suburbs. There are huge cemeteries, and they’re really organized as a government, if you will, a central government. And the previous one we had was Egypt, so now we actually have that in a different part of the Nile Valley.

Kerma has fantastic ruins—big, huge mudbrick structures; huge graves, like enormous graves. So it really speaks to the expansion of this organized group in the area of the Third Cataract. Now, when you actually look at those monuments, when you’re on site digging, the material that you find is extremely different from what you have in Egypt. It is uncomparable, in a way.

But you do find Egyptian things in there, and that’s what confused some of the archaeologists early on. Why is this material there? Why is this Egyptian material culture in there? And we know now that it was Kerma raiding Egypt and coming home with war booty, and you find this material in the tombs because people were proud to have brought back these things with them, and that really attests to Kerma’s military power.

AUDREY: I understand that Kerma’s raids of Egypt returned with material treasures that were discovered in tombs of the wealthy. Those raids were also a display of Nubian power, correct?

CAROLINE: Yes, you are absolutely correct. Those raids into Egypt actually demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of Kerma. The Egyptians were actually quite wary of what was going down, down there in Nubia. They knew about them. They knew about the Kerma people. They knew about Kush. And they build forts at the Second Cataract to keep an eye on what’s going on, to keep trade networks flowing and things like this, but there was really this wariness—there’s powerful people who live up the river.

So, as you can imagine, at some point in time, the Egyptians retaliated, and they were not happy, and they could tell that Kush was becoming more powerful. And this actually ended up being an occupation, so Egypt occupied Nubia for 500 years.

Now, what’s important to note here is that the two civilizations exist in the same landscape, if you will, the Nile Valley, and it’s important to keep in mind that you have to have a balance of power. When one is powerful, the other one cannot also be powerful. It’s one or the other, and this changes through time.

ELISE: What happened with the Egyptian occupation of Nubia? It seems like Egypt and Nubia took inspiration from and innovated off of the other. What exactly are the similarities between Egyptian and Nubian artifacts? How did these two nations adapt from one another?

CAROLINE: One of the things that we have with the occupation of Nubia is that the Egyptians are in Nubia. They’re doing their Egyptian things in Nubia. So some of the people there decided to—it’s like, “Oh yeah, sure, let’s do some more Egyptian things.” While other people decided to stay true to their roots and remain entirely Nubian. So it’s really a two-way street. There’s influences going both ways.

So, after the occupation, when the Egyptians left, we don’t really know what happened in Nubia. For about 300 years there’s a—it’s very difficult to understand what’s going on at that time. But there’s that balance of power again. Egypt is weak, and suddenly Kush rises, and you see the next period. And at that point, since Kerma was destroyed, they moved to another capital city at Napata, and these powerful kings actually become pharaohs of Egypt for about 100 years, which is amazing. And this is where they really adopt and adapt, that we talked about earlier, that material culture, those funerary traditions. They really go [makes swish noise] and, like, “Now we’re using that power; we’re as powerful as the people who made those things originally.” That’s a deliberate choice. They’re making that decision to express power, and it tells you who wields the power. It’s the royal family that does that in Kush.

Despite all this adoption and adaptation, the Nubian worldview and modes of cultural expression have remained unique. Even when they adapt, and adopt, and borrow things from Egypt, it becomes part of their culture as well.

LOLA: This exhibition is also in large part made up of artifacts belonging to royalty. How are these royal objects expressions of wealth and status? What materials and motifs were associated with power? Oh, Curator!

CAROLINE: Well, there was plenty of gold in Nubia, but some other materials, like silver, for example, were not available locally, either in Kush or Egypt, so that had to be imported from elsewhere. So the Kushite royals controlled access to those trade routes. The goods they’re bringing in become prestige items—raw material, fancy items coming into the country from all over the ancient world. And this actually helps them display their power because those goods are usually restricted to the royal family or the elite, really high elite. So these items that have been purchased from elsewhere have become symbols of their status, within their community.

AUDREY: The final area of the exhibition covers the last period of the Kingdom of Kush’s history, the one centered at the city of Meroe. Caroline, what was significant about Meroe?

CAROLINE: Meroe actually occupies a soft spot in my heart because that’s where I work, and I have to say, it’s a really fantastic archaeological site.

Meroe was actually the most powerful sub-Saharan city in Africa, like over 2,000 years ago, and it has its own unique culture and an extensive trade network that ran throughout Africa, the ancient Mediterranean, and the ancient Near East. Meroe was a center for art and architecture, and long before it became the capital of Kush, it was the most important iron production center in Africa.

During the Meroitic period, the Meroites, the Kushites, further distinguished themselves by inventing their own writing system, what we know as the Meroitic script. And for the first time, they are expressing their history themselves. Unfortunately, Meroitic is a language that we have deciphered, we know how to read it, but we don’t actually know many words, so it remains, unfortunately, silent to us.

ELISE: Nobody knows Nubia like you do! In fact, we know you’ve spent time at the Royal City of Meroe and other Meroitic archaeological sites. Please tell us one of your dig stories!

CAROLINE: I have so many dig stories, I think I’m going to have to pick just one. I think the most exciting discovery for me, like finding something really exciting, that happened in 2008 at the site of Dangeil.

So, I was digging in the Amun Temple there. We had reached—almost reached the floor, and my workmen just signaled me, like, “Hey, there’s something here; it looks like a stone.” So, when that happened, you jump into the square with your brush, and there I was, brushing away this piece of dark granite. And it was something. It wasn’t just a stone. It was a carved stone, and it was a square or rectangular piece with feet on it. So that was very exciting.

So, of course, you have to inform the dig director to come and see what you discovered, and since we were at the bottom of the section, we were almost done with that section, we decided the next day to open the section next to it. So, starting at the top, working our way down, removing layers of sand, slowly but surely. And within two hours, I found another chunk of granite that turned out to be pretty big, and it was the body of a statue of King Taharqa.

Now, this was super exciting, on many levels, because it was the first time that these kinds of statues had been found this far south in Kush. Earlier statues had been discovered, oddly enough, by Reisner at Jebel Barkal when he was digging there. And then in 2003, at the site of Kerma, they had also found a pit with statues in it.

So, there we are, in Dangeil, and we’re finding the statues of the same kings that have been found at these two other places, and that was really awesome because these are some of the most famous Kushite kings. And Taharqa, I have to say, is my favorite.

ELISE: There’s no denying that that is an awesome story! If you’ve been inspired by Caroline’s experience, don’t miss your chance to lend your hand at excavation at the digital Dig Zone in the gallery, and maybe you’ll uncover a pair of stone feet too.

GENEVIEVE: Thank you so much for your answers, Caroline! Talking to you has helped us uncover a new level of depth to this complex exhibition. And to everybody who tuned in, we hope you now have a deeper understanding of ancient Nubia, and you are better able to connect with the art of the people that made up its history. Thank you for listening, and the NCMA hopes to see you again soon!