KERMA Probably the Oldest Complex Society 2000-1600 BC
LOCATION
in present-day Sudan along Dongola Reach, the most productive of the middle Nile area called Nubia in past
ORIGINS
indigenous development
founded largely by control of Nubian trade
SUBSISTENCE
cereals (sorghum, wheat, barley), legumes (beans, peas, lentils), vegetables (cucumbers) herds of sheep, goats, oxen, pigs tree fruits (dates, palm nuts) fish and some wild resources saqia irrigation (oxen-driven water wheel, moves water farther than shaduf)
sacrificial burials in tumuli: many sacrifices of humans accompanied some burials as many as 400 in one burial corridor (largest single sacrificial burial in Old World, along with China)
Artist reconstruction of largest tumulus at Kerma, with cut-away on the right showing the submound brick structure.