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🇬🇧 Kerma-Doukki Gel

Kerma-Doukki Gel, capital of the Kingdom of Kush and sacred city of the Black Pharaohs

The sites of Kerma and Doukki Gel form a vast archaeological complex that extends over more than 22 hectares, 12 km upstream from the 3rd Cataract of the Nile, in the present-day Northern Province (الشمالية/ash-Shimaliyah) of the Republic of Sudan. Separated by a kilometer, the two urban settlements are closely linked, geographically and historically. They occupy a strategic position along the valley, at the crossroads of important trade routes that link the regions of sub-Saharan Africa to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. The remains uncovered so far at the two sites bear witness to continuous occupation over almost three millennia, between the Early Kerma period (2500-2050 BC) and the Meroitic period (290 BC-350 AD).

Map of the Sudan and plan showing the relative position of Kerma and Doukki Gel © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / S. Marchi, M. Berti

The joint Swiss-French-Sudanese mission at Kerma-Doukki Gel was established in 2013 at the request of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM). It continues the pioneering work initiated by the University of Geneva—first at Tabo under the direction of Charles Maystre in 1965, and later at Kerma, ten years later, under the leadership of Charles Bonnet. Today, the mission is co-directed by Séverine Marchi, Xavier Droux, and Abd el-Hay Abd el-Sawy. The multidisciplinary team brought together for this project reflects a broad international collaboration, involving archaeologists, historians, epigraphists, architects, and specialists in archaeometallurgy, palaeobotany, geomorphology, and archaeometry.

The ancient city of Kerma

The first archaeological work on the site of the ancient city was undertaken in 1913 by the American archaeologist George A. Reisner. His work focused on the imposing mud-brick monument at the center of the settlement, known to the Sudanese population as “the deffufa“. This edifice and its ancillary buildings had been interpreted as the headquarters of an Egyptian trading post from the 12th dynasty. In 1975, excavations were resumed under the direction of Charles Bonnet, a professor at the University of Geneva. These campaigns demonstrated that the deffufa was in fact the religious center of the capital of the independent kingdom of Kush, which at its height extended between the First and Fifth Cataracts.

The ancient city of Kerma and its main temple, the deffufa © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / B.-N. Chagny

Extensive excavations and urban topographic studies carried out across the entire concession have made it possible to produce one of the most complete site plans in the Nile Valley. The town was established at the northern end of a strip of land once surrounded by canals—now dry and filled in—which may have held water for part of the year. These canals, along with an elaborate system of fortifications, provided effective protection for the settlement, which lay in a relatively flat landscape. Several circulation routes, particularly a north-south axis that runs through the town, helped shape its urban layout. Around the main temple and its annexes, archaeologists have uncovered residential quarters, royal residences, administrative buildings, a large circular audience hall, and a number of chapels.

A comprehensive plan of the ancient city of Kerma © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / M. Berti

Craft production workshops have been identified at several locations across the site, particularly near places of worship. One notable example is a large cross-shaped furnace, discovered at the foot of the deffufa, which was used to produce bronze plaques. Such installations reflect the specialized expertise of Nubian craftsmen in metallurgy, as well as in the production of faience and ceramics.

Kerma’s bronze furnace © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / S. Marchi
Kerma’s bronze furnace © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / G. Verly

The Doukki Gel site

To the north of Kerma, the remains of Doukki Gel have been the subject of systematic research since 1992. These studies first focused on the Meroitic levels, with the excavation of a large residence and a temple, then on the excavation of several Egyptian temples from the New Kingdom, and finally on the discovery of monuments of a particular architecture dating from the Kerma periods.

Overview of the Doukki Gel site © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / B.-N. Chagny

Geophysical and archaeological surveys conducted in recent years have revealed the site’s northern extension and a stratigraphic sequence over two meters deep. Excavations in one of these areas uncovered traces of temporary dwellings made of perishable materials (such as huts), interspersed with the leveled remains of massive towers, bastions, and enclosure walls. These findings indicate that the city was protected by a powerful fortification system from the time of Middle Kerma and throughout its subsequent history.

The city of the Classic Kerma period is characterized by an urban core supplied with water by two large wells and surrounded by a surrounding wall with several entrances flanked by circular towers. In the western part of this urban core, a large quadrangular building was built, which is interpreted as a building with a ceremonial and military purpose. Several large oval or circular buildings are built outside this enclosure and are themselves protected by a second fortification.

Aerial view of palace A, dated from the Kerma period, covered by remains from the Egyptian period © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / B.-N. Chagny

This complex was almost completely razed to the ground at the time of the conquest of Upper Nubia by the armies of Thutmose I, who destroyed the capital and also subjugated the rural settlements of the rich hinterland of Kerma. Thutmose I then had a menenu established at Doukki Gel, a fortified royal foundation in conquered foreign territory, intended to assert Egyptian domination over the region as well as to store and protect the tributes intended for the central services. Several temples and palaces and an imposing system of fortifications were built on the razed remains of the monuments of the previous period.

Doukki Gel, overview of the Kerma period remains and the menenu of Thutmosis I © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / M. Berti
Doukki Gel, the east-west processional way of Thutmosis I’s menenu © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / S. Marchi

Archaeological research has established that the Egyptian settlement of Doukki Gel, unlike Kerma which was abandoned and then transformed into a cemetery, was regularly rebuilt and modified until the Meroitic period.

One of the notable discoveries made at Doukki Gel is a set of seven monumental statues, broken and buried in a pit dug in the religious complex from the Kushite period. Dating from the 7th-6th centuries BC, they represent five sovereigns from the end of the 25th dynasty and the Napatan period: Taharqa, Tanoutamun (two statues), Anlamani, Senkamanisken (two statues) and Aspelta.

The statues found in the Doukki Gel pit, displayed in the Kerma Museum © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / I. Matter-Horisberger

The recent work at Doukki Gel aims to continue large-scale clearances in the still unexplored areas of the site, with the goal of completing our understanding of the urban topography of this ceremonial city. Architectural studies and material analyses are helping to shed light on the construction of various types of mudbrick buildings at Kerma and Doukki Gel, and to trace the origins of certain distinctive architectural elements. The remains uncovered at both sites reflect a range of influences and ongoing adaptations, which the project seeks to better define through cross-disciplinary analysis by specialists in different fields. Ongoing research programs are exploring the use of earth, wood, and plants in architecture (as part of the ANR Nile’s Earth project), the production processes of bronze and faience, and food storage practices—studies that will continue over the coming years.

Another objective is the conservation and enhancement of the sites through annual operations to protect the remains and the development of preservation protocols adapted to each environment. An information center presenting plans, 3D restitutions and aerial photos of the remains by period was opened in 2022 in Doukki Gel. Intended for the local population and foreign visitors passing through, adding to and enriching the tour route offered at the Kerma museum.

Doukki Gel, the restaurated north-west gate and the brick-making area for conservation operations © Mission Kerma-Doukki Gel / S. Marchi

Further reading

The mission is supported by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM-SD), the Advisory Commission for Archaeological Research Abroad of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (FR), the State Secretariat for Training, Research and Innovation (SEFRI), via the Kerma Foundation (CH), the CNRS and Sorbonne University (FR) (UMR 8167 – Orient et Méditerranée, Mondes Pharaoniques team) and by the ANR (project ANR-21-CE27-0019-01: Nile’s Earth).

In 2022, the mission received the “Archaeology” Label 2022-2023 from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Bibliography

Summary works

  • Ch. Bonnet, D. Valbelle et S. Marchi, « Le jujubier », ville sacrée des pharaons noirs, Paris, Khéops, 2021.
  • Ch. Bonnet, The Black Kingdom of the Nile, Cambridge (Ma), London, Harvard University Press, 2019.
  • Ch. Bonnet et D. Valbelle, Les temples égyptiens de Panébès « le jujubier » à Doukki Gel, Soudan, Éditions Khéops, Paris, 2018.
  • Ch. Bonnet, La ville de Kerma. Une capitale nubienne au sud de l’Egypte, Lausanne, 2014.

Selection of articles

  • Ch. Bonnet, “The cities of Kerma and Pnubs-Dokki Gel”, dans G. Emberling et Br. Williams (éd.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia, Oxford, 2021, p. 201- 212.
  • Ch. Bonnet, « Une mission archéologique au Soudan durant 50 années », dans S. Vuilleumier et P. Meyrat (éd.), Sur les pistes du désert, Mélanges offerts à Michel Valloggia, 2019, p. 11‑17.
  • Ch. Bonnet, « Doukki Gel, une ville africaine aux frontières de l’Égypte », CRAIB, nov.‑déc. 2017, Paris, p. 1347-1366.
  • Ch. Bonnet, S. Marchi et D. Valbelle, « Les sites de Kerma et de Doukki Gel » dans Cinquantenaire de la SFDAS, Soleb-Bleu Autour, 2020, p. 71-95.
  • Ch. Bonnet et S. Marchi, “The Egyptian occupation and the indigenous city of Dokki Gel in the early 18th Dynasty”, Sudan and Nubia 23, 2019, p. 135-143.
  • S. Marchi, « Découvertes récentes sur le site de Doukki Gel : les fortifications de la période Kerma », dans M. Maillot (éd.), Actualité de la recherche archéologique française au Soudan, Les routes de l’Orient ancien. Hors-Série 3, 2018, p. 31-45.
  • S. Marchi, « Entre arrière-pays et capitale, l’approvisionnement et le stockage des céréales dans le royaume de Kerma (Soudan) », dans A. Bats (éd.), Les céréales dans le monde antique, Nehet 5, 2018, p. 197-216.
  • S. Marchi, « Le royaume de Kerma à la fin du Moyen Empire », dans G. Andreu-Lanoë et Fl. Morfoisse (éd.), Sésostris III et la fin du Moyen Empire, CRIPEL 31, 2017, p. 85-102.
  • P. Meyrat, « Un corpus d’empreintes de sceaux de Doukki Gel », BIFAO 123, 2023, p. 335-380 [https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bifao/123/12/]
  • D. Valbelle, « Sièges nominatifs et chapelles ‘de confréries’ », BIFAO 120, Le Caire, 2020, p. 449-478.
  • D. Valbelle, « Inbt, snbt et mnnw : des dispositifs défensifs particuliers aux frontières de l’Égypte », dans Sandrine Vuilleumier et Pierre Meyrat (éd), Sur les pistes du désert, Mélanges offerts à Michel Valloggia, Gollion, 2019, p. 243‑253.
  • Fr. W. Rademakers, G. Verly, P. Degryse, Fr. Vanhaecke, S. Marchi, Ch. Bonnet, « Copper at ancient Kerma: a diachronic investigation of alloys and raw materials », Advances in Archaeomaterials 1, 2021.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sfdas (2 novembre 2024). 🇬🇧 Kerma-Doukki Gel. SFDAS Khartoum. Consulté le 13 janvier 2026 à l’adresse https://sfdas.hypotheses.org/5454


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