NUBIA

ANCIENT KINGDOMS
OF AFRICA
Geoff Emberling

The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

New York University

March 11, 2011 – June 12, 2011

 CONTENTS

4 Map of the Region

5 Acknowledgments
Jennifer Y. Chi

6 Timeline of Ancient Nubia

7 Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa (3100–350 BC)

30 Ancient Nubia, Modern Research

50 Checklist

58 Supplemental Bibliography

59 Photography and Drawing Credits

View of the royal cemetery at Nuri during George A. Reisner’s

excavations, December 8, 1916.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Mediterranean Sea

Nile River
With Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University presents
an exhibition that explores the remarkable and distinctive aesthetic traditions that defined Nubia from the rise of its
El Amarna first kingdoms (ca. 3100 BC) to the emergence of the powerful Kushite dynasty that conquered Egypt, fought against
the Assyrian empire, and retreated to its homeland (900–350 BC). Nubia has challenged our views of ancient societies
EGYPT
since the first decades of the twentieth century, when archaeological excavation and survey began along the Nile in
Naqada Sheikh Farag
Thebes southern Egypt and northern Sudan. As a neighbor and the chief rival of Egypt, Nubia has often succumbed to compara-
tive descriptions, which sometimes fail to highlight the region’s unique qualities. The exhibition features a comprehensive
array of Nubian objects, from delicately handcrafted pottery to portrait statues of kings and military weapons—the first
Ancient boundary
between Egypt and Nubia Aswan in New York in over three decades—providing an unparalleled overview of these little-understood African kingdoms.
1st Cataract
Aniba
Modern boundary Red Sea We are extremely grateful to Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, for
between Egypt and Sudan Faras 2nd Cataract his support in forming the ISAW installation of this exhibition. Rita Freed, Chairman of the Art of the Ancient World
Uronarti Medjay
Semna Department, and Patrick McMahon, Director of Exhibitions and Design, also provided us with invaluable guidance. Anna
Bursaux, Traveling Exhibitions Manager, offered organizational support throughout the project. At the etropolitan Museum
of Art, we would like to thank Dorothea Arnold, Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of the Department of Egyptian
3rd Cataract
Kerma Art, for facilitating key loans especially for the ISAW presentation.
4th Cataract
Gebel Barkal
Nuri 5th Cataract
El Kurru Exhibitions are by nature a team endeavor. At ISAW, Linda Stubbs, Exhibition Registrar and Outreach Coordinator;
Julienne Kim, Managing Editor for Exhibition Publications and Didactics; Irene Gelbord, Exhibitions Administrator; and
Meroe Roberta Casagrande-Kim, Curatorial Assistant, all played key roles in the successful completion of this rewarding
SUDAN
6th Cataract project. Tom Elliot, Associate Director for Digital Projects, produced a website for the exhibition that is both aesthetic
Khartoum Punt? and informative. And finally, Geoff Emberling, Guest Curator, is responsible for creating a narrative that highlights the
unique voice of Nubian art and culture.

Finally, this exhibition and the accompanying publication would not have been made possible without the generous
support of the Leon Levy Foundation.

Jennifer Y. Chi
Associate Director for Exhibitions and Public Programs

4 5
TIMELINE OF NUBIA: ANCIENT KINGDOMS
ANCIENT NUBIA OF AFRICA (3100–350 BC)
Major Events As branches of the Nile River descend from the highlands and the accumulation of wealth and power marked the rise
8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 BC of East Africa, they join in a single course and pass through of the first kingdoms of the Middle Nile.
Earliest villages Domestication of First Kingdom of Kush Napatan kings the land of Nubia in what is now northern Sudan and south-
First pottery animals and plants kingdoms (capital at Kerma) conquer Egypt ern Egypt (see map on page 4). The river has always Located on the main transportation route in northeastern
Egyptian raids Egyptian Trade with Greece provided life in this arid region, as a source of water, food, Africa, Nubia cannot be understood in isolation from its
conquest and Rome
and transport. It traverses broad plains that serve as a basis neighbors, particularly Egypt to the north. Egypt was both
Egyptian trade
for agriculture and concentrations of population, wealth, and a trade partner with and an enemy of Nubian kingdoms
expeditions
power (Fig. 1). The Nile also flows through six areas known for thousands of years, until the Nubian Napatan Dynasty
as cataracts, traditionally numbered from north to south, conquered Egypt and ruled as its 25th Dynasty from roughly
where the river valley narrows and rocky outcrops define 750–650 BC . Regions to the south were also important
islands, rapids, and waterfalls (Fig. 2). The savannas and as a source of products including ivory, ebony, incense,
deserts on either side of the river are integral to settlement, and exotic animals. Nubia grew with trade of these goods
Archaeological Periods supplying raw materials, including gold, as well as areas together with the gold found along the Nubian Nile and
8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 BC for herding and hunting. in the desert to the east.
North A-Group Unoccupied C-Group New Kingdom
The population of the Nile Valley increased with the first Names of Nubia
Pan Grave
permanent settlements beginning around 8000 BC. In about The term Nubia itself has a Greek grammatical form meaning
Mesolithic Neolithic Kerma Napatan Meroitic 5000 BC, as the climate became drier and the Sahara Desert “land of Nub” (referring to the Noba tribe) and first appears
expanded, people domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle in the historical record in the third century BC, at a time
and later cultivated wheat, barley, dates, millet, and sorghum.1 when Egypt was ruled by Greek-speaking descendants of
South Pre-Kerma
Earlier populations had been mostly egalitarian, but social Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy. 2 Nubia is thus a
inequality began to develop with the rise of food production. relatively late designation that reflects the ideas of foreigners
However, it was not until just before 3000 BC that long- rather than indigenous conceptions. It is also the name of
distance trade, increasingly sophisticated craft production, some people living in the region today, speakers of Nubian

6 7
languages, who trace their history back to this ancient culture.
As the name for a cultural tradition, “Nubia” thus conceals
a diversity of groups and regions. We look to the names of
places in Egyptian texts to try to understand cultural and
political organization south of the 1st Cataract, but this exer-
cise is complicated by Egyptian ideology, which tended to
categorize people living to the south as undifferentiated
enemies of the Egyptian state. The earliest Egyptian term for
a part of the area south of the 1st Cataract was Ta Sety
(land of the bow), but it is unlikely to record an indigenous
name. A later Egyptian term for Nubians was Nehesyu.
Tomb biographies of Egyptian officials who traveled in
Nubia about 2300 BC, however, give what are probably local
names that may reflect geographical, tribal, or political
units, including Wawat, Irtjet, Setjau, and Yam. Slightly later
texts begin to refer to the land of Kush, which was to be
the longest lasting and politically most powerful among
these ancient Nubian places.
Terminal A-Group and C-Group (ca. 3100–1800 BC)
The first kingdoms of the Nile Valley developed in northern
Nubia and southern Egypt by 3000 BC. The Nubian kingdoms,
called the “Terminal A-Group” by archaeologists, are known
from cemeteries between the 2nd and 1st cataracts. While
arguably royal burials are known only at Qustul and possibly
Sayala, it appears that these kingdoms traded gold in
exchange for oil, wine, and other products from Egypt. 3
Objects in the largest and wealthiest of these tombs were
decorated with symbols of kingship, like the falcon, that
were also used in Egypt. Among the most valued objects
of the A-Group were eggshell-thin burnished and painted
bowls (Figs. 3 and 4).
A-Group sites were abandoned soon after 3000 BC as
Egyptian armies raided Nubia, capturing thousands of
prisoners and sometimes hundreds of thousands of animals.
It was not until nearly six hundred years later that the area
was resettled by a culture known as the “C-Group,” whose
burials provide little evidence for the existence of royalty
or even an elite (Figs. 5 and 6).4 A different type of grave,
known as a Pan Grave, with distinctives burial goods—
including painted animal skulls and armbands (Figs. 7 and
8)—appeared by about 1700 BC . These graves are usually
identified as burials of a nomadic group in the eastern
desert known in texts as the medjay.
The tomb biography of an Egyptian official named Harkhuf
describes his trade expeditions to different parts of Nubia
and the desert to the west in the years around 2250 BC.5
Sent on four trips to obtain incense, ebony, oils, panther
skins, ivory, and even a pygmy, Harkhuf also lists territories
through which he passed. Of the places he mentions,
the location of Wawat is the most certain: it was the area
between the 2nd and 1st cataracts.
Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush (ca. 3000–1500 BC)
Further south in Nubia, in the area upstream of the 3rd
Cataract, a cultural tradition known as Kerma had begun
around 3000 BC. By 2000 BC, the city of Kerma itself was
a large urban center built around an imposing mud-brick
temple complex known as the Western Deffufa.
About three kilometers east of the settlement was a huge
cemetery with a smaller deffufa that served as a funerary
chapel. The burials were visible as rings of small stones or
simple mounds on the surface, and three of them were
8 9
significantly larger than the others, up to ninety meters in
diameter and four meters high. These mounds were built
over a central burial chamber and a series of mud-brick
walls that provided structure to the mound (see page 40,
Fig. 39). As many as 322 human sacrificial victims were
buried in the corridors of the mound along with the kings,
while nearly a thousand cattle skulls—representing the
wealth of the king and probably deriving from the funeral
feast—were neatly arranged around the mounds.
The Egyptians called this kingdom Kush, and built a series
of imposing fortresses along the Nile in the years after
2000 BC in an attempt to control trade and to protect against
its military power (see page 41, Fig. 40). Distinctive ceramics
made in Kerma (Figs. 9–11) have been found from the
5th Cataract to well above the 1st Cataract, indicating the
migration of people from the capital of Kush as well as trade
relations over an extensive area. The kings of Kush were
able to assemble alliances with distant rulers—including
those of the medjay and of the land of Punt near the Red
Sea—and nearly captured the Egyptian capital at Thebes
in raids around 1600 BC (Figs. 12–16).6
Egyptian Conquest of Nubia
Beginning in about 1550 BC , the histories of Nubia and
Egypt became increasingly intertwined. Egypt had been in
a weakened state during its Second Intermediate Period
(ca. 1650–1550 BC), as the Asiatic rulers known as the Hyksos
encroached from the north and the rulers of Kush expanded
northward. A remarkable text of the Egyptian king Kamose,
who ruled from Thebes, describes his interception of a letter
traveling from the Hyksos to Kush in which the Hyksos king
proposed an alliance to conquer Egypt.7 Kamose would
defeat the Hyksos (employing Nubian medjay in his army)
and retake part of Nubia. His successors in the Egyptian
New Kingdom eventually conquered Nubia as far as the 4th
Cataract and held this territory for four centuries.
After the conquest, Egyptian officials worked to incorporate
Nubia within the Egyptian state. As the Nubians were one
of Egypt’s traditional enemies—subjects of magical curses
and epithets such as “vile Kush”—this project required a
significant ideological shift. Perhaps the broadest change
was expansion of the cult of Amun, the chief god of Egypt,
into Nubia. It is possible that the ram-headed form of Amun
(Figs. 18 and 19) had a Nubian origin. Amun temples were
built along the Nile into Nubia (Fig. 20), and a developing
theology suggested that Amun had in fact been born in Nubia
at the “holy mountain,” Gebel Barkal (Fig. 21). 8 The Egyptian
governor of Nubia was called the “King’s Son of Kush,” and
he was responsible for extracting gold9 and other products
for delivery to the Egyptian capital (Fig. 22).
Nubian subjects of the Egyptian empire in many cases
adopted Egyptian cultural practices, including dress and
burial (Fig. 30).10 This is most evident among the Nubian
elite, but it is difficult to trace continuities in Nubian culture
in less-elite contexts through these centuries of Egyptian
rule. Nubians did, however, continue to be outstanding
archers (Fig. 17).
The Nubian Conquest of Egypt
The collapse of the Egyptian empire in Nubia brought on a
dark age of uncertain length.11 Sometime between 1000
and 800 BC, however, a new Nubian dynasty developed in
the southern bend of the Nile, building royal tombs at El-Kurru
that for the first time in Nubian history took the form of
pyramids. These kings (Fig. 23) ruled from Napata, located
in the area of Gebel Barkal, and scholars call them the
Napatan Dynasty. They would soon conquer Egypt, where
they would rule as its 25th Dynasty (ca. 750–650 BC).
The pattern of succession of Napatan kings has suggested
to some scholars that descent may have been reckoned
through the female line, since kings often married their sisters
and had children with them. Certainly, early Nubian queens
were important figures and were accorded royal burials.12
The earliest Napatan kings named in historical records are
Alara and his brother Kashta. Their successors succeeded
in conquering Egypt:13
Piye (reigned ca. 750–720 BC): Piye conquered Egypt and
is recorded as the first king of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt.
He expanded the Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal and put
up a stele commemorating his victories in Egypt. He had
at least five wives, and one of his sons, Taharqo, was a
later Napatan king. His sister Amunirdis would become the
“God’s Wife of Amun” in Thebes. Piye’s burial is the earliest
preserved pyramid constructed at El-Kurru, and four of his
horses were buried in a nearby tomb (Figs. 19 and 24).
Taharqo (reigned 690–664 BC): A son of Piye, Taharqo is
mentioned in the Bible (as Tirhakah of Kush), which describes
his role as a general leading the Egyptian army against the
Assyrians to prevent the Assyrian king Sennacherib from
taking Jerusalem. As king, Taharqo was defeated by the
Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, who ended
Nubian rule of Egypt. He married at least three of his sisters
and had two other wives. For reasons that remain unclear
but may relate to a succession struggle, Taharqo initiated
a new royal cemetery at Nuri, fifteen miles upstream of
El-Kurru (Figs. 25 and 26; pages 42–43, Figs. 41 and 42).
Senkamanisken (reigned ca. 640–620 BC): Relatively little
is known of King Senkamanisken’s reign, which took place
after the Nubian retreat from Egypt. One of his wives was
Queen Nasalsa, and two of their sons—Anlamani and
Aspelta—succeeded Senkamanisken. Inscriptions show
that work on two Amun temples in the area of Gebel Barkal
was conducted during Senkamanisken’s reign, and both
he and Queen Nasalsa were buried in the royal cemetery
at Nuri (Figs. 27–29).
Aspelta (reigned ca. 600–580 BC): A son of King
Senkamanisken, Aspelta succeeded his brother Anlamani
to the throne. During Aspelta’s reign, the Egyptian king
Psammetichus II raided deep into Nubia, destroying temples
and palaces. Hoards of royal statues found at Gebel Barkal
and, more recently, at Kerma, were broken during this raid
(see page 46, Fig. 44). Aspelta had at least four wives and
one of his sons, Aramatelqo, was a later Nubian king. He
and his successors were buried at Nuri (Figs. 31 and 32).
These kings of the Napatan Dynasty ruled from the city of
Napata, located in the area of Gebel Barkal but not yet
precisely located. Nubian rulers moved their capital and the
location of their royal burials to Meroe, between the 5th
and 6th cataracts of the Nile, during the third century BC.
That transition marks a historical change from the Napatan
to the Meroitic dynasty of Kush (Fig. 33).
10
Notes
1 For recent research on the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Sudan,
with references to previous work, see essays in Derek Welsby and
Julie Anderson, eds., Sudan: Ancient Treasures, exh. cat. (London:
British Museum Press, 2004), 20–60.
2 One of the earliest mentions of the Noba is in a source from the
third century BC used by Pliny (see Tormod Eide et al., eds., Fontes
Historiae Nubiorum, vol. 2, From the Mid-Fifth to the First Century BC
(Bergen: University of Bergen, Department of Greek, Latin and
Egyptology, 1996), 548. Aethiopia is the term more commonly used
by classical authors, beginning with Homer and Herodotus, for the
broad region of Africa that includes Nubia. It is likely derived from the
Greek for “land of the burnt face.”
3 The rise of kingship in the A-Group only became apparent with the
excavation of these cemeteries in the 1960s. For a discussion of the
A-Group kings and their relationship to early Egyptian kings of Upper
Egypt, see Bruce Williams and Thomas J. Logan, “The Metropolitan
Museum Knife Handle and Aspects of Pharaonic Imagery Before
Narmer,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 46, no. 4 (1987): 245–85.
See also David O’Connor, “Chiefs and Kings in Early Nubia,” in Ancient
Nubia: Egypt’s Rival in Africa, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The University
Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1993), 10–24.
4 For the C-Group, see Manfred Bietak, “The C-Group and the Pan
Grave Culture in Nubia,” in Nubian Culture Past and Present: Main
Papers Presented at the Sixth International Conference for Nubian
Studies in Uppsala, 11–16 August 1986, ed. Tomas Hägg (Stockholm:
Almqvist & Wiksell, 1987), 113–28; and more recently, Henriette
Hafsaas, “Pots and People in an Anthropological Perspective: The
C-Group People of Lower Nubia as a Case Study,” Cahier de
Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Égyptologie de Lille 26
(2006–7): 163–71.
5 The inscriptions of Harkhuf and another Egyptian official named
Weni are conveniently translated in William Kelly Simpson, ed., The
Literature of Ancient Egypt, 3rd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2003), 401–13. The location of Yam, in particular, is important because
it determines the size of the other Nubian polities, but its location is
disputed. A summary of existing views and a proposal are found in
David O’Connor, “The Locations of Yam and Kush and Their Historical
Implications,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 23
(1986): 27–50. The recent find of an inscription mentioning Yam as
deep in the western desert has reawakened these debates: Joseph
Clayton, Aloisia De Trafford, and Mark Borda, “A Hieroglyphic Inscription
Found at Jebel Uweinat Mentioning Yam and Tekhebet,” Sahara 19
(2008): 129–34.
11
6 The Egyptian fortresses of the Middle Kingdom, all of which were
flooded with the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s,
are discussed in William Adams, Nubia: Corridor to Africa (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1977). The Kushite raid on Thebes is
discussed in Vivian Davies, “Kush in Egypt: A New Historical Inscription,”
Sudan and Nubia 7 (2003): 52–54.
7 For the Kamose inscription, see Simpson, The Literature of Ancient
Egypt, 345–50.
8 See Timothy Kendall, “Kings of the Sacred Mountain: Napata and
the Kushite Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt,” in Sudan: Ancient
Kingdoms of the Nile, ed. Dietrich Wildung (Paris: Flammarion, 1997),
161–71.
9 The tribute in gold, as well as ancient gold-mining techniques,
are described in Jean Vercoutter, “The Gold of Kush,” Kush 7 (1959):
120–53.
10 For example, an official named Heka-Nefer who is known to have
been Nubian prepared a tomb entirely in Egyptian style; William Kelly
Simpson, Heka-Nefer and the Dynastic Material from Toshka and
Arminna, Publications of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt 1
(New Haven: Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University,
1963).
11 For the controversy regarding the length of this dark age, see
Timothy Kendall, “The Origin of the Napatan State: El Kurru and the
Evidence for Royal Ancestors,” Meroitica 15 (1999): 3–117; and László
Török, “The Origin of the Napatan State: The Long Chronology of the
El Kurru Cemetery,” Meroitica 15 (1999): 149–59.
12 For Nubian queens, see Angelika Lohwasser, “Queenship in Kush:
Status, Role and Ideology of Royal Women,” Journal of the American
Research Center in Egypt 38 (2001): 61–76; and Lohwassser, Die
königlichen Frauen im antiken Reich von Kusch: 25. Dynastie bis zur
Zeit des Nastasen, Meroitica 19 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001).
13 For historical inscriptions of these kings, see Tormod Eide et al., eds.,
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum, vol. 1, From the Eighth to the Mid-Fifth
Century BC (Bergen: University of Bergen, Department of Classics, 1994).
 Fig. 1 The Nile Valley looking southwest from Gebel Barkal, showing
the river, the cultivated area in the flood zone, and habitation in the
desert beyond.
Fig. 2 A landscape in the 4th Cataract, showing rapids and islands.
12 13
Fig. 3 Straight-sided redware bowl. Fired clay, Nubia, 3100–3000 BC
(Terminal A-Group). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Dr. George
A. Reisner: 19.1549.
Fig. 4 Convex bowl with horizontal bands. Fired clay, Nubia,
3100–3000 BC (Terminal A-Group). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
Gift of Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1593.
Fig. 5 Cup with geometric decorations. Fired clay, Faras, Cemetery 2,
Grave 110, 2050–1750 BC (C-Group IB-IIA). Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Rogers Fund, 1913: 13.125.28a.
Fig. 6 Convex bowl with incised decoration. Fired clay, Nubia,
2050–1900 BC (C-Group IB). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of
Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1595.
 Fig. 7 Painted cattle skull (bucranium). Bone and pigment, Khozam(?), Fig. 9 Bowl with running-spiral decoration. Fired clay, Kerma,
1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily Esther Eastern Deffufa (K I), 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period).
Sears Fund: 03.1956. Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 13.5083.
Fig. 8 Armbands. Shell (mother-of-pearl), Naqada(?), 1700–1550 BC
(Pan Grave). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily Esther Sears Fund
with Additions: 03.1694.

14 15
Fig. 10 Pitcher in the form of a hippopotamus. Fired clay, Kerma,
Cemetery, 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11804.
Fig. 11 Black-topped red-polished beaker with white “ash band.”
Fired clay, Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave K 439, 1700–1550
BC (Classic Kerma Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2034.
16
Fig. 12 Wall inlay of a lion. Faience, Kerma, Cemetery, Eastern Deffufa
(K II), 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1224.
Fig. 13 Head of a Nubian. Faience, Kerma, Cemetery, Eastern Deffufa
(K II), 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1305a.
17
 Fig. 14 Statue of an anonymous official. Granodiorite, Kerma,
Tumulus K III 4(1), 1783–1640 BC (Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 13).
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 14.723.
18 19
Fig. 15 Necklace with blue-glazed quartz-crystal pendant. Glazed
quartz, Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K X, 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma
Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition:
13.4128.
Fig. 16 Miniature dagger. Bronze, ivory, and gold, Kerma, Cemetery,
Grave M 48, 1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11796b.
Fig. 17 Three arrowheads. Flint, El-Kurru, 9th century BC (Napatan
Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition:
21.360, 21.361, 21.364.
Fig. 18 King Taharqo offering wine to the seated ram-headed Amun,
from the Temple of Mut at Gebel Barkal (Carl Richard Lepsius).
Fig. 19 Criosphinx on a column. Gilt silver and stone, El-Kurru,
Pyramid 55, 750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye). Harvard
University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 24.974.
Fig. 20 View of the Great Amun Temple (B 500) from the top of
Gebel Barkal.
Fig. 21 Gebel Barkal from the northeast. The separate pinnacle at
the left was interpreted as a uraeus-serpent similar to those depicted
on Nubian and Egyptian royal crowns.
20 21
Fig. 22 Portion of a tomb painting showing Nubians bringing tribute
to Huy, the Egyptian governor of Kush during the reign of Tutankhamun
(ca. 1333–1324 BC). The tribute includes gold rings, gold dust in bags,
animal skins, a giraffe, and cattle. Facsimile by Charles K. Wilkinson
(ca. 1897–1986), tempera on paper, Egyptian Expedition Graphic Section
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ca. 1923–1927, Rogers Fund, 1930:
30.4.21.

22 23
Fig. 23 Kushite Pharaoh. Bronze and precious-metal leaf, Nubia,
712–664 BC (Napatan Period). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase,
Lila Acheson Wallace Gift and Anne and John V. Hansen Egyptian
Purchase Fund, 2002: 2002.8.
Fig. 24 Winged ram-headed scarab amulet. Faience, El-Kurru,
Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry), 750–720 BC (Napatan Period,
Reign of Piye). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition: 24.696.
24
Fig. 25 Jug with trefoil mouth. Quartzite, El-Kurru, Pyramid 4,
690–664 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Taharqo). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2783.
Fig. 26 Shawabti of King Taharqo. Travertine (Egyptian alabaster),
Nuri, Pyramid 1 (Tomb of Taharqo), 690–664 BC (Napatan Period).
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2928.
25
 Fig. 27 Statue of King Senkamanisken. Granite gneiss, Gebel Barkal, Fig. 30 Mirror. Bronze and gilt silver, El-Kurru, Pyramid 15 (Tomb of
640–620 BC (Napatan Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Shabaka), 722–707 BC (Napatan Period). Harvard University—Boston
Fine Arts Expedition: 23.731. Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.318.
Fig. 28 Shawabti of King Senkamanisken. Serpentinite, Nuri, Pyramid
3 (Tomb of Senkamanisken), 640–620 BC (Napatan Period). Harvard
University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11845.
Fig. 29 Shawabti of King Senkamanisken. Serpentinite, Nuri,
Pyramid 3 (Tomb of Senkamanisken), 640–620 BC (Napatan Period).
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11847.

26 27
 Fig. 31 Ewer. Gold, Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta), 600–580 BC Fig. 33 Plaque in the form of a bound prisoner. Bronze, Gebel Barkal,
(Napatan Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Temple of Amun, B 551, 1st century AD (Meroitic Period). Harvard
Expedition: 20.341. University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition: 24.1791.
Fig. 32 Cylinder sheath. Gold, Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta),
600–580 BC (Napatan Period). Harvard University—Boston Museum
of Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11739.

28 29
ANCIENT NUBIA,
MODERN RESEARCH
Nubia was one of the great civilizations of the ancient world.
From its rise in the fourth millennium BC, Nubian rulers con-
trolled long stretches of the Nile Valley, amassing wealth and
power, and its traders and soldiers interacted with neighbors
on all sides. Ancient Nubia is also of significant interest as a
civilization with distinctively African characteristics, including
a mobile population and economic and symbolic reliance
on cattle. However, in spite of more than two hundred years
of exploration, archaeological survey and excavation, and
historical research, and in spite of the outstanding work of
some truly dedicated scholars, Nubia remains poorly known
relative to our understanding of its ancient contemporaries.
There are a number of reasons for this state of knowledge.
First is Nubia’s proximity to ancient Egypt, whose standing
monuments and extensive written record have tended to
overshadow the sometimes less impressive remains of Nubian
history. Second, Nubians did not write until the second
century BC, and because it has been difficult to identify the
language in which these later texts were written, their writing
system, called Meroitic script, has resisted decipherment.1
Third, since the Egyptian record is so abundant and often so
eloquent, it has also tended to skew modern perceptions
toward the perspective of ancient Egyptian ideology, in
which, for example, the Nubian kingdom of Kush could only
mean “vile” and Nubians were stereotyped as primitive
(Figs. 34 and 35).
Racial prejudice has also contributed to a lack of knowledge
about ancient Nubia. In the early twentieth century, for
example, scholars investigating the history of the Nile valley
explained the brilliance of Egyptian history in racial terms
by positioning Egypt as separate from Africa. As Nubia was
considered part of black Africa, scholarly interpretations
systematically undervalued its political complexity, aesthetic
traditions, and military force. More recently, scholars have
discarded racial explanations of history as invalid, and have
acknowledged that Egypt is in fact in Africa. We now recog-
nize that populations of Nubia and Egypt form a continuum
rather than clearly distinct groups and that it is impossible
to draw a line between Egypt and Nubia that would indicate
where “black” begins (Fig. 34). 2
Finally, it may fairly be said that the difficulty of access to
archaeological sites in Nubia has slowed the pace of work
there. Lower Nubia was relatively remote and is now entirely
flooded, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam
in the 1960s, while in Sudanese Nubia the first paved roads
30
linking Khartoum with the northern border of Sudan were
completed only in 2009. With a dedicated and collegial
group of archaeologists working in Egypt and Sudan, we
have every reason to hope that the next generation of
archaeological work in Nubia will be extremely productive.
A review of the history of exploration and archaeological
research in Nubia provides an opportunity to summarize our
knowledge of key sites of Nubian history.
Early European Perspectives
The ancient Nubian empire ended with the fall of its capital
city, Meroe, in the fourth century AD. Meroe was not encoun-
tered again by the West until 1772, when growing European
colonial interest in Africa took the form of an expedition
led by James Bruce to seek the source of the Nile. A related
mode of European exploration, that of the European travel-
ing as a Muslim, led to a trip through Sudan in 1813–14 by
John Lewis Burckhardt. 3
The invasion and conquest of northern Sudan by Egyptian
forces in 1821 provided new opportunities for European
travel and discovery. Further accounts by travelers like
Frédéric Caillaud began to publish drawings of sites and
monuments in greater detail. A disastrous consequence
of this knowledge was the demolition in the 1830s of a
number of the pyramids at Meroe by the Italian physician
Giuseppe Ferlini in his search for treasure (see pages
44–45, Fig. 43). He recovered and sold a spectacular group
of jewelry of the queen Amanishakheto (late first century BC).
Although the details of the find will never be known, it is
unlikely that it came from a hidden chamber at the top of the
pyramids as Ferlini thought (a view that led him to remove
31
the tops of the pyramids), but more likely that it came from
a burial chamber underneath one. The artist David Roberts
traveled through Egypt and northern Nubia in 1838 and made
a series of lithographs of ancient sites (Fig. 36). A massive
German expedition to Egypt and Sudan led by Carl Richard
Lepsius in 1842–45 extensively documented monuments
that in some cases no longer survive (Fig. 37).4
Fewer travelers came to Sudan in the later nineteenth century,
in part because of the rise of a Sudanese religious leader
known as the Mahdi, his capture of Khartoum, and the
execution of Major-General Charles George Gordon, the
British governor-general of Sudan in 1885. The subsequent
British campaign led by Lord Kitchener in 1898 established
an Anglo-Egyptian government that once again made
European travel possible. E. A. Wallis Budge then made
several trips between 1897 and 1905 to excavate and to
collect antiquities for the British Museum and the museum at
Khartoum, while the University of Chicago’s James Henry
Breasted traveled through Egyptian and Sudanese Nubia in
1905–7 in search of Egyptian historical inscriptions and also
took some of the earliest photographs of Nubian monuments.5
Extensive archaeological research began soon after. In
conjunction with the construction of a dam at Aswan in
southern Egypt, the Egyptian government commissioned
the Archaeological Survey of Nubia from 1907–11, directed
in part by George A. Reisner (see page 39, Fig. 38) of
Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to
locate and excavate archaeological sites (mostly cemeter-
ies) that were threatened by flooding. On the basis of these
excavations, Reisner defined a series of archaeological
cultures using letters (A-Group, C-Group) that are still in
use today. A contemporary British expedition, led by John
Garstang, excavated as far south as Meroe from 1909–14.6
Plans to further increase the height of the Aswan dam
were made in the 1920s, and another archaeological
salvage of Lower Nubia was directed by Walter B. Emery
from 1929–34.
Certainly the most sustained excavation program under-
taken in these early years of Nubian archaeology, however,
was that of Reisner as he systematically excavated major
Nubian settlements and royal cemeteries at Kerma, El-Kurru,
Nuri, Gebel Barkal, and Meroe, as well as worked in the
Egyptian fortresses between the first and second cataracts.
He did all this from 1913–32, while taking winter breaks from
his major excavations at Giza in Egypt, and his excavations
in Nubia provide the basis for the unparalleled collection of
ancient Nubian artifacts in the collection of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston. The bulk of the objects in this exhibition
come from Reisner’s excavations at Kerma, El-Kurru, Nuri,
and Gebel Barkal. Fortunately, Reisner was an excellent
archaeologist whose records were exemplary for his time,
and these excavations have largely been published.
Reisner in Nubia: Kerma
At Kerma, Reisner worked in the city that was the capital
of the early kingdom of Kush from about 2000–1550 BC,
although he did not recognize it as such. The site included
a settlement area and a huge necropolis. In the settlement
area, he worked primarily around a massive mud-brick
structure, known as the Western Deffufa, over fifty-two meters
long and nineteen meters high. Deffufa is a modern Nubian
term meaning “fortified building,” but the structure had
clearly been a temple in ancient times. Reisner’s excavations
at the base of the Western Deffufa uncovered remains of
smaller temples and extensive areas for production of faience
and distinctive local ceramics. He also found Egyptian stone
vessels and fragments of statues mixed with local Nubian
products. Noting that the area had been burned, Reisner
interpreted the remains as indicating the presence of an
Egyptian settlement that had been burned in a Nubian attack.
The eastern cemetery, with its royal burial mounds and human
sacrifices, contained significant quantities of Egyptian
objects made of faience and stone, including whole statues
(see page 47, Fig. 45). Despite the clear evidence of non-
Egyptian burial practices, and undoubtedly guided by racial
prejudice, Reisner understood these large burials to be those
of high Egyptian officials rather than those of Nubian kings.
Reisner’s interpretations were challenged soon after publi-
cation, and it is now abundantly clear that Kerma was a
Nubian city, the capital of Kush. Since 1977 excavations
at Kerma directed by Charles Bonnet have painstakingly
revealed and restored the palaces, shrines, houses, and
defensive walls of the city.7
Reisner in Nubia: El-Kurru, Nuri, and Gebel Barkal
After his work at Kerma, Reisner moved his investigations
to a group of sites further up the Nile that proved to contain
remains of temples built by Egyptian rulers during the
Egyptian colonization of Nubia (1550–1150 BC), as well as
royal burials of later Nubian rulers of Kush (ca. 1000–400 BC).8
The earliest of these sites was Gebel Barkal, known as
the “holy mountain” (see page 21, Fig. 21), which was the
site of a massive Egyptian temple to the ram-headed form
32
of the Egyptian god Amun, as well as smaller temples
and later palaces (see page 21, Fig. 20). The temple was
rebuilt by Nubian rulers whose statues were also set up
in the temple area, only to be broken, probably in a raid
by the Egyptian king Psammetichus II in 593 BC , and
subsequently buried.
Reisner also worked at El-Kurru (see page 48, Fig. 46),
where he located the modest pyramid burials of the great
Nubian kings who had ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty
(ca. 750–650 BC)—Piye, Shabaqo, Shebitqo, and Tanwetamani.
Other tombs in the cemetery include those of Nubian
queens and unnamed royal ancestors. Although scholars
continue to debate the date of these earlier tombs, no con-
sensus has been reached. Tantalizing notes in Reisner’s
notebooks show that he found remains of a monumental
city wall and gate, not visible on the surface today, which
suggest that a Nubian royal city may be located under the
modern village of El-Kurru.
For reasons that remain unclear, the 25th-Dynasty king
Taharqo established a new royal burial site at Nuri (see
pages 42–43, Figs. 41 and 42), over twenty kilometers
upstream of El-Kurru, building what would be the largest of
the Nubian pyramids. Many of his successors—including
Senkamanisken, Anlamani (see page 49, Fig. 47), and
Aspelta—were also buried there, in a pyramid field that
ultimately contained more than seventy pyramids, most be-
longing to Nubian queens (see page 2, frontispiece). The
pyramids and offering chapels were built above a burial
chamber that was entered by rock-cut stairs. Unfortunately,
the pyramid burials at Nuri, like others in Nubia, had been
looted in antiquity. Objects left in the tombs and recovered
33
by Reisner can only give an impression of the wealth they
once contained.
Although the objects from Reisner’s other excavations are
not featured in this exhibit, he also worked at the later
Kushite capital city of Meroe, and then at the Egyptian for-
tresses of the Second Cataract.
After Reisner’s investigations in Sudan ended in 1932,
there was relatively little archaeological fieldwork in Nubia
for nearly thirty years. A significant addition was the work
of A. J. Arkell, who excavated some of the first Paleolithic,
Mesolithic, and Neolithic sites known in Sudan. As part of
the British colonial administration that was also producing
some of the classic works of African ethnography, by figures
such as C. G. Seligman and E. E. Evans-Pritchard,9 Arkell
also took significant steps to combat the slave trade, which
was outlawed by the British.
The Aswan High Dam
With the rise to power in Egypt of Gamal Abdel Nasser in
1956, plans began to build a new High Dam at Aswan.
Archaeological rescue efforts in the 550-kilometer area to
be flooded by the new lake (Lake Nasser) were organized
by UNESCO beginning in 1960. These projects were under-
taken by international teams and comprised archaeological
surveys and excavations as well as engineering projects
to move monuments—including the famous temple of
Ramesses II at Abu-Simbel—to locations that would not be
flooded. The salvage also launched ongoing involvement in
the archaeology of Nubia by Polish teams, who continue to
maintain a large presence in current work. The archaeologi-
cal efforts led to significant reassessments of the history of
Lower Nubia as well as to a series of international museum
exhibits beginning in the 1970s. Sadly, the completion of the
dam also caused the disappearance of a significant portion
of the Nubian landscape, and more than 100,000 Nubians
in Egypt and Sudan were dislocated and resettled.10
An Archaeological Assessment
The present day represents a bright moment for the future
of archaeology in Nubia. Although the Nubian Nile in Egypt
remains flooded by Lake Nasser, the construction of a
Nubian Museum in Aswan to house and display finds from
the flooded area was completed in 1997. Archaeologists
working in southern Egypt continue to recover evidence of
Nubian activities in the desert on either side of the Nile.
Sudan’s department of antiquities, called the National
Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, employs excellent
field archaeologists and museum staff, and cooperates
extremely well with the growing number of foreign teams in
Sudan, of which the majority work in the north. With the
completion of another intensive dam-salvage project at the
4th Cataract, which was flooded in 2008, archaeologists
working in Nubia have recovered a significant addition to
our understanding of Nubian history just as its landscape is
lost. The Sudanese government has announced plans for
further dams along the Nile, and it is likely that salvage
archaeology will dominate fieldwork plans in the near future.
34
Notes
1 Recent work by Claude Rilly (e.g., “L’écriture et la langue de
Méroé,” in Méroé, un empire sur le Nil, ed. M. Baud, exh. cat. [Paris:
Musée du Louvre Éditions, 2001], 144–59) has made great strides in
identifying the language of the texts as an early relative of Nubian
languages, and this may lead to a broader decipherment of the script.
2 See, for example, essays in D. O’Connor and A. Reid, eds., Ancient
Egypt in Africa (London: UCL Press, 2003).
3 James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (London:
G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790) (Meroe is discussed in vol. 5: 317 ff.);
and John Lewis (Johann Ludwig) Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia
(London: Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts
of Africa, 1819).
4 Frédéric Cailliaud, Voyage à Méroë . . . (Paris: Imprimerie Royale,
1823–27); a good discussion of Ferlini along with photos of the jewelry
of Amanishakheto can be found in Dietrich Wildung, “The Treasure of
Amanishakheto,” in Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile, ed. Wildung,
(Paris: Flammarion, 1997), 302–40. Carl Richard Lepsius’s masterpiece
of documentation was published in 1849–56 as Denkmäler aus Ägypten
und Äthiopien, 12 vols. (Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung), with
vol. 10 devoted to Nubia (available online at http://edoc3.bibliothek.
uni-halle.de/lepsius/info.html). David Roberts’s prints were published in
1846–49 in Egypt and Nubia (London: F. G. Moon); see http://www.loc.
gov/pictures/search/?q=David%20Roberts%20Nubia.
5 E. A. Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Sûdân: Its History and Monuments
(London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1907). Breasted’s Nubian photos
are available online at http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/
breasted/, and a selection are discussed in John A. Larson, Lost
Nubia, exh. cat., Oriental Institute Museum Publications 24 (Chicago:
Oriental Institute, 2006) (this volume is also available online at http://
oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oimp/oimp24.html).
6 A number of teams worked on the Archaeological Survey of Nubia.
Reisner’s work was published in 1910 in The Archaeological Survey
of Nubia, Reports for 1907–8 (Cairo: National Printing Department).
Later reports were published by C. M. Firth. Other teams working in
the salvage included those of D. Randall-MacIver and C. L. Woolley
excavating for the University of Pennsylvania.
35
7 George A. Reisner, Excavations at Kerma, Harvard African Studies
5–6 (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum, 1923). Charles Bonnet and
his team have published extensive preliminary reports, summaries,
syntheses, and final reports. Some recent publications include Bonnet,
Edifices et rites funéraires à Kerma (Paris: Errance, 2000); Bonnet and
D. Valbelle, Le temple principal de la ville de Kerma et son quartier
religieux (Paris: Errance, 2004); Bonnet and Valbelle, Des pharaons
venus d’Afrique. La cachette de Kerma (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod,
2005); as well as regular reports in the journal Genava.
8 Much of Reisner’s work at Barkal, El-Kurru, and Nuri was published
by his field assistant and successor at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
Dows Dunham, from 1950–63 as The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, 5
vols. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University for the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston). See also Dunham and G. A. Reisner, The Barkal Temples
(Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1970). Ongoing work at Gebel Barkal
itself is presented by Timothy Kendall in a series of publications and
most recently at http://www.jebelbarkal.org/.
9 C. G. Seligman, Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan (London:
G. Routledge & Sons, 1932); E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles,
and Magic among the Azande (Oxford: Clarendon, 1937); and Evans-
Pritchard, The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and
Political Institutions of a Nilotic People (Oxford: Oxford University at
the Clarendon Press, 1940).
10 An overview of the Aswan dam salvage project is in Torgny Säve-
Söderbergh, ed., Temples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia: The International
Rescue Campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae and Other Sites (London:
Thames and Hudson; Paris: UNESCO, 1987). Ethnographic views of
Nubian settlement at the time of the Aswan dam project are in Elizabeth
W. Fernea and Robert A. Fernea, Nubian Ethnographies (Prospect
Heights, IL: Waveland, 1991) with a follow-up study by R. A. Fernea
and A. Rouchdy, “Contemporary Egyptian Nubians,” in Nubian Culture
Past and Present, ed. Tomas Hägg, 365–87 (Stockholm: Almqvist &
Wiksell), 1987.
 Fig. 34 In this section of a painting in the Tomb of Huy, governor of Fig. 35 Nubian head inlay. Faience, Nubia, 1295–1070 BC (New
Kush under Tutankhamun (1333–1324 BC), some of the Nubians are Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase,
shown stereotypically depicted with shackled wrists. However, the Fletcher Fund and the Guide Foundation Inc. Gift, 1966: 66.99.51.
Egyptians also recognized the diversity of Nubian cultural practices
and physical characteristics, and other Nubians are depicted dressed
in the style of the Egyptian court, with broad collars and gowns.
Facsimile by Charles K. Wilkinson (ca. 1897–1986), tempera on paper,
Egyptian Expedition Graphic Section of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art ca. 1923–1927, Rogers Fund, 1930: 30.4.21.

36 37
 GEORGE A. REISNER’S
EXCAVATIONS IN NUBIA

Fig. 36 Drawing of the interior of the Temple of Abu Simbel, Fig. 38 Reisner with a ceramic vessel, March 29, 1929.
November 9, 1838, by David Roberts (1796–1864). Lithograph by
Louis Haghe (1806–1885).
Fig. 37 Scene of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II smiting
a Nubian captive from the Temple of Beit el-Wali south of the
1st Cataract (Carl Richard Lepsius).

38 39
Fig. 39 Royal burial mound K III at Kerma showing internal walls Fig. 40 Outer fortification wall of an Egyptian Middle
that were filled with sand and then covered with mud bricks and Kingdom fortress at Semna, near the 2nd Cataract,
white pebbles, April 1914. December 25, 1919.

40 41
Fig. 41 Workmen sorting shawabtis at the the royal pyramids Fig. 42 The pyramid of Taharqo at Nuri, November 4, 1916.
at Nuri in 1917.

42 43
Fig. 43 Pyramids at Meroe, March 13, 1922, with tops destroyed by
Giuseppe Ferlini in his search for treasure.
Fig. 44 Hoard of broken royal statues buried at Gebel Barkal Fig. 45 Statue of the Egyptian Lady Sennuwy (Middle Kingdom,
after an Egyptian raid in 593 BC . In the hoard were statues of ca. 1950 BC) as it was found in royal burial K III at Kerma. Since
Nubian kings, February 27, 1916. that burial dates to ca. 1575 BC , the statue of Sennuwy was probably
taken in a Kushite raid on Egypt.

46 47
Fig. 46 Excavation of El-Kurru pyramid 1, showing the stone Fig. 47 Removing the massive sarcophagus of Anlamani from his
blocks of the pyramid and the burial staircase, April 27, 1919. This pyramid burial at Nuri, November 4, 1916.
is the latest pyramid in the El-Kurru cemetery, and it is not known
to which king it belonged.

48 49
CHECKLIST
1. Bowl with Running-Spiral Decoration
Fired Clay, H. 12.4 cm
Kerma, Eastern Deffufa (K I), 1700–1550
(Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.5083
(Fig. 9)
2. Pitcher in the Form of a Hippopotamus
Fired Clay, H. 20.5 cm, L. 26.5 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, 1700–1550 BC
(Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11804
(Fig. 10)
3. Convex Redware Bowl with Triangle Motif
Fired Clay, H. 9.8 cm, D. 16 cm
Nubia, 3100–3000 BC (Terminal A-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Dr.
George A. Reisner: 19.1546
4. Straight-Sided Redware Bowl
Fired Clay, H. 23 cm, D. rim 25.6 cm
Nubia, 3100–3000 BC (Terminal A-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Dr.
George A. Reisner: 19.1549
(Fig. 3)
5. Convex Bowl with Horizontal Bands
Fired Clay, H. 19, D. rim 20 cm
BC Nubia, 3100–3000 BC (Terminal A-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of
Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1593
(Fig. 4)
6. Convex Black-topped Bowl with Horizontal
Bands
Fired Clay, H. 9.4 cm, D. rim 13.5 cm
Nubia, 3100–3000 BC (Terminal A-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of
Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1594
7. Jar
Fired Clay, H. 17 cm, D. 19 cm
Faras, Cemetery 2, Grave 3, 1900–1600 BC
(C-Group IIA-B)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund,
1913: 13.125.29
8. Cup with Geometric Decorations
Fired Clay, H. 9 cm, D. rim 14 cm
Faras, Cemetery 2, Grave 110, 2050–1750 BC
(C-Group IB-IIA)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund,
1913: 13.125.27
9. Cup with Geometric Decorations
Fired Clay, H. 8.2 cm, D. rim 14.3 cm
Faras, Cemetery 2, Grave 110, 2050–1750 BC
(C-Group IB-IIA)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund,
1913: 13.125.26
10. Cup with Geometric Decorations
Fired Clay, H. 8.1 cm, D. rim 12.5 cm
Faras, Cemetery 2, Grave 110, 2050–1750 BC
(C-Group IB-IIA)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund,
1913: 13.125.28a
(Fig. 5)
11. Convex Bowl with Incised Decoration
Fired Clay, H. 11.5 cm, D. 15.8 cm
Nubia, 2050–1900 BC (C-Group IB)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of
Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1595
(Fig. 6)
50
12. Incised Convex Black Bowl
Fired Clay, H. 7 cm, D. 10 cm
Nubia, Archaeological Survey of Nubia,
Cemetery 101, Grave 153, 1900–1750 BC
(C-Group IIA)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of
Dr. George A. Reisner: 19.1596
13. Black-topped Redware Convex Bowl
Fired Clay, H. 14 cm, D. 19.9 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave N 157, 2400–2050
BC (Early Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2031
14. Black-topped Convex Bowl with Incised Rim
Fired Clay, H. 15 cm, D. 22 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave N 87, 2400–2050 BC
(Early Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2032
51
15. Black-polished Squat Globular Jar
Fired Clay, H. 11 cm, W. 12 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave 450,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2114
16. Spouted Black-topped Red-polished Jar
Fired Clay, H. 11.7 cm, D. 18 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave K 1053,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.4101
17. Rilled Beaker
Fired Clay, H. 22.4 cm, D. 11.8 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave K 319-37,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2006
18. Black-topped Red-polished Beaker
Fired Clay, H. 8.5 cm, D. 13.1 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave K 439,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2034
(Fig. 11)
19. Black-topped Red-polished Beaker
Fired Clay, H. 11.5 cm, D. 14.4 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave 439,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine
Arts Expedition: 20.2036
a
20. Miniature Black-topped Red-polished
Beaker
Fired Clay, H. 5.3 cm, D. 6 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave 439,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2038
21. Black-topped Beaker
Fired Clay, H. 10.5 cm, D. 9.2 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K IV, Grave 439,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.2119
22. String of Blue-glazed Quartz Beads
Blue-glazed Quartz, 1.4 cm x 35 cm overall
Kerma, Grave 1053/16a, 1700–1550 BC
(Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.3970
23. Necklace with Blue-glazed Quartz-Crystal
Pendant
Glazed Quartz, L. 42 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Tumulus K X,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.4128
(Fig. 15)
24. Ball-Bead Necklace
Carnelian, L. 35 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave K 332,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1727
25. String of Ring Beads with Menat Pendant
Faience, L. 42.5 cm, W. 3.8 cm, D. 0.9 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 5 (Tomb of Queen Qalhata),
664–653 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of
Tanwetamani)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.10574
26. String of Carnelian and Faience Disc
Beads
Carnelian and Faience, L. 19 cm, D. 0.5 cm
Aniba, Tomb N944, 2400–1550 BC (C-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of George
Steindorff: 50.4076
27. String of Amulets
Faience, L. 24.5 cm, D. 1.8 cm
Aniba, Tomb N825, 2400–1550 BC (C-Group)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of George
Steindorff: 50.4078
28. Winged Scarab Amulet
Faience, H. 7.1 cm, W. 6.2 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 52 (Tomb of Queen
Nefrukekashta), 750–720 BC
(Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.672
29. Winged Scarab Amulet
Faience, H. 6.2 cm, W. 4.2 cm, D. 0.6 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry),
750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.705
30. Winged Scarab Amulet
Faience, H. 8.1 cm, W. 7.3, D. 0.7 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry),
750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.713
31. Necklace with Winged Scarab Amulet
Faience, L. 27.5 cm, W. 7.1 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 55, 750–720 BC
(Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.1019a
32. Winged Ram-headed Scarab Amulet
Faience, H. 7.5 cm, W. 5.3 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry),
750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.696
(Fig. 24)
33. Pataikos Amulet
Faience, H. 7.9 cm, W. 4.3 cm, D. 2 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 52 (Tomb of Queen
Nefrukekashta), 750–720 BC
(Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.1799
52
34. Pataikos Amulet
Faience, H. 8.6 cm, W. 5.2 cm, D. 2.5 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 52 (Tomb of Queen
Nefrukekashta), 750–720 BC
(Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.680
35. Pataikos Amulet
Faience, H. 9.3 cm, W. 4.8 cm, D. 2.5 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry),
750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.690
36. Pataikos Amulet
Faience, H. 7 cm, W. 4 cm, D. 2 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 53 (Tomb of Queen Tabiry),
750–720 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.714
53
37. Ceiling Block with Rosette Pattern
Sandstone and Faience, H. 75 cm,
W. 93.5 cm, D. 10.5 cm
Kerma, Funerary Temple K XI, 1700–1550
(Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.4360.1
38. Wall Inlay of a Lion
Faience, H. 55 cm, W. 120 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Eastern Deffufa (K II),
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1224
(Fig. 12)
39. Head of a Nubian
Faience, H. 7.5 cm, D. 2.3 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Eastern Deffufa (K II),
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1305a
(Fig. 13)
40. Nubian Head Inlay
Faience, H. 6.3 cm, W. 6, D. 1.5 cm
Nubia, 1295–1070 BC
(New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase,
Fletcher Fund and the Guide Foundation Inc.
Gift, 1966: 66.99.51
(Fig. 35)
41. Talatat with Heads of Two Nubians
Limestone and Pigment, H. 21.6 cm, W. 46.7 cm
El-Amarna(?), 1353–1336 BC (New Kingdom,
Dynasty 18, Reign of Akhenaten)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Norbert
Schimmel, 1985: 1985.328.19
BC
42. Dagger
Bronze, Blade L. 32 cm, W. 3.1 cm, D. 2.6 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave X-B 203,
1700–1550 BC (Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1472
43. Miniature Dagger
Bronze, Ivory, and Gold, L. 17 cm
Kerma, Cemetery, Grave M 48, 1700–1550 BC
(Classic Kerma Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11796b
(Fig. 16)
44. Arrowhead
Flint, L. 4.8 cm
El-Kurru, Tumulus 1, 9th century BC
(Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.360
(Fig. 17)
45. Arrowhead
Flint, L. 3.7 cm
El-Kurru, Tumulus 1, 9th century BC
(Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.361
(Fig. 17)
46. Arrowhead
Flint, L. 4.1 cm
El-Kurru, Tumulus 4, 9th century BC
(Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.364
(Fig. 17)
47. Stone Weight for Weighing Gold
Stone, H. 4.2 cm, W. 3.0 cm, D. 2.1 cm
Uronarti Fort, 2000–1750 BC
(Middle Kingdom)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.751
48. Military Ration Token
Wood and Painted Plaster, H. 15.6 cm,
W. 9.8 cm, D. 3.1 cm
Uronarti Fort, 1950–1750 BC (Middle Kingdom,
Dynasty 12)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.754
49. Razor: Nubian with Lute
Bronze, H. 10.2 cm
Nubia, 1390–1295 BC (New Kingdom,
Dynasty 18)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926:
26.7.836
50. Pair of Fly Pendants
Ivory, H. 7.1 cm, W. 3 cm, D. 0.5 cm;
H. 6.8 cm, W. 3.1 cm, D. 0.6 cm
Semna, Tomb S 579, 1550–1070 BC
(New Kingdom)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 27.878a-b
51. Shawabtis (30) of King Senkamanisken
Serpentinite, H. 15.7–21 cm, W. 5–7 cm
Nuri, Pyramid 3 (Tomb of Senkamanisken),
640–620 BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine
Arts Expedition: 21.3040, 21.11723, 21.11813,
21.11816–21.11820, 21.11827–21.11829,
21.11831–21.11845, 21.11847–21.11849,
21.11851 (Figs. 28 and 29)
52. Statue of King Senkamanisken
Granite Gneiss, H. 147.8 cm, W. 50.1 cm
Gebel Barkal, 640–620 BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 23.731
(Fig. 27)
w 57. Plaque in the Form of a Bound Prisoner
53. Statue of King Akhratan
Black Granodiorite, H. 85.5 cm
Gebel Barkal, 4th century BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 23.735
54. Statue of an Anonymous Official
Granodiorite, 65 cm x 22 cm x 28.5 cm overall
Kerma, Tumulus K III 4(1), 1783–1640 BC
(Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 13)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 14.723
(Fig. 14)
55. Statue of the Governor Thutmose
Granite, 45.7 cm x 22.9 cm x 24.1 cm overall
Gebel Barkal, Trench 500a,
1349–1336 BC (New Kingdom, Dynasty 18,
Reign of Akhenaten)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 16.476
54
56. Head of a Male
Granodiorite, 15 cm x 10.5 cm x 13.8 cm
overall
Kerma, Surface between Tumuli K III and K IV,
1784–1668 BC (Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1207
Bronze, H. 9.4 cm, W. 6.8 cm, D. 0.3 cm
Gebel Barkal, Temple of Amun, B 551,
1st century AD (Meroitic Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.1791
(Fig. 33)
58. Royal Footrest with Prisoner Figures
Granite, H. 23.3 cm, W. 26.5 cm
Gebel Barkal, Temple of Amun, Court B 501,
270 BC–AD 320 (Meroitic Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.1792
55
63. Hathor-headed Crystal Pendant
Gold and Rock Crystal, H. 5.4 cm, D. 3.3 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 55, 750–720 BC
(Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.321
(Cover illustration)
59. Nine Floral Elements
Gold, H. 1.5 cm, D. 2.6 cm 64. Criosphinx on a Column
Nuri, Pyramid 16 (Tomb of Talakhamani), Gilt Silver and Stone, H. 7.2 cm, W. 1.8 cm
440–420 BC (Napatan Period) El-Kurru, Pyramid 55, 750–720 BC
Harvard University—Boston Museum of (Napatan Period, Reign of Piye)
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.310–20.318 Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.974
60. Mirror (Fig. 19)
Bronze and Gilt Silver, H. 32.9 cm
El-Kurru, Pyramid 15 (Tomb of Shabaka),
722–707 BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.318
(Fig. 30)
61. Mirror
Silver and Bronze, H. 28 cm, W. 15 cm,
D. 5.5 cm
Meroe, Tomb S 32, Late 6th century BC
(Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 24.961
65. Offering Stands (2) of King Anlamani
Granite, H. 91.5 cm
Nuri, Pyramid 6 (Tomb of Anlamani),
620–600 BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11875, 21.11876
66. Armbands
Shell (Mother-of-Pearl), L. 14.5 cm, H. 2.2 cm
Naqada(?), 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily Esther
Sears Fund with Additions: 03.1694
(Fig. 8)
62. Mirror with Falcons
Bronze, H. 21.9 cm, W. 12 cm, D. 1.4 cm
Semna, Tomb S 552, 1539–1425 BC
(New Kingdom, Early Dynasty 18)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 27.872
67. Bucranium 76. Cylinder Sheath
Bone and Pigment, H. 36 cm, W. 56 cm Gold, H. 11.4 cm, D. bottom 3.2 cm
Khozam(?), 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave) Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta),
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily Esther 600–580 BC (Napatan Period)
Sears Fund: 03.1956 72. Bow Harvard University—Boston Museum of
(Fig. 7) Wood, L. 114.2 cm, D. 1.9 cm Fine Arts Expedition: 21.11739
Nubia, 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave) (Fig. 32)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Hay Collection,
1836—Gift of C. Granville Way: 72.4351 77. Cylinder Sheath
Gold, H. 11.3 cm, D. 3.1 cm
Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta),
600–580 BC (Napatan Period)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of 82. Human-headed Canopic Jar Lid
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.339a-b 80. Alabastron Travertine (Egyptian Alabaster), H. 17.8 cm,
Travertine (Egyptian Alabaster), H. 17.7 cm D. 16 cm
78. Spouted Silver Vessel Inscribed for Nuri, Pyramid 5 (Tomb of Malonaqen), El-Kurru, Pyramid 4 (Tomb of Queen Khensa),
Aspelta’s Father, Senkamanisken ca. 540 BC (Napatan Period) 690–664 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of
68. Bucranium Silver, H. 16.7 cm Harvard University—Boston Museum of Taharqo)
Antler Bone and Pigment, H. 41.5 cm, 73. Cover of Jar Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta), Fine Arts Expedition: 20.1069 Harvard University—Boston Museum of
W. 75 cm Gold, L. 21 cm, D. 8.5 cm 600–580 BC (Napatan Period) Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2799
Nubia, 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave) Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta), Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 600–580 BC (Napatan Period) Fine Arts Expedition: 24.901 83. Shawabti of King Taharqo
1916: 16.2.23 Harvard University—Boston Museum of Travertine (Egyptian Alabaster), H. 33.1 cm,
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.334 79. Kushite Pharaoh W. 11 cm, D. 8 cm
69. Bucranium Bronze and Precious-Metal Leaf, H. 7.6 cm, Nuri, Pyramid 1 (Tomb of Taharqo),
Antler Bone and Pigment, H. 24.1 cm, 74. Ewer W. 3.2 cm 690–664 BC (Napatan Period)
W. 23.8 cm Gold, H. 31.5 cm Nubia, 712–664 BC (Napatan Period) Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Nubia, 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave) Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2928
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 600–580 BC (Napatan Period) Lila Acheson Wallace Gift and Anne and (Fig. 26)
1916: 16.2.33 Harvard University—Boston Museum of John V. Hansen Egyptian Purchase Fund,
Fine Arts Expedition: 20.341 2002: 2002.8 84. Canopic Jar Inscribed for King Anlamani
70. Bucranium (Fig. 31) (Fig. 23) Travertine (Egyptian Alabaster), H. 32 cm,
Antler Bone and Pigment, H. 24.8 cm, W. 18 cm
W. 22.2 cm 81. Double-handled Globular Vessel Nuri, Pyramid 7 (Tomb of Karkamani),
Nubia, 1700–1550 BC (Pan Grave) Travertine (Egyptian Alabaster), H. 27 cm, 620–600 BC (Napatan Period, Reign of
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, D. 20.1 cm Anlamani)
1916: 16.2.35 El-Kurru, Pyramid 53, 750–720 BC (Napatan Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine
Period, Reign of Piye) Arts Expedition: 23.742
71. Arrow 75. Tweezers of King Aspelta Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Reed, L. 90.2 cm Gold, L. 18 cm Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2623 85. Jug with Trefoil Mouth
Sheikh Farag, Tomb S.F.25c, 1700–1550 BC Napatan, Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta), Quartzite, H. 20.7 cm, D. 12.6 cm
(Pan Grave) 600–580 BC (Napatan Period) El-Kurru, Pyramid 4, 690–664 BC
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Harvard University—Boston Museum of (Napatan Period, Reign of Taharqo)
Fine Arts Expedition: 13.5101 Fine Arts Expedition: 20.342 Harvard University—Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition: 21.2783
(Fig. 25)

56 57
SUPPLEMENTAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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University Press, 1977.
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———. “Relations between Egypt and Kerma during the Middle and
New Kingdoms.” In Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam,
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Davies, W. Vivian. “Kurgus 2000: The Egyptian Inscriptions.” Sudan
and Nubia 5 (2000): 46–58.
Edwards, David N. The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan.
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MA: Brockton Art Museum, 1982.
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58 59
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York University
15 E. 84th Street, New York, NY 10028
nyu.edu/isaw

The exhibition Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa was organized by

the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Supplemental material was loaned
by the Metropolitan Museum of Art specially for the ISAW presentation.

The exhibition and the accompanying publication were made possible

through the support of the Leon Levy Foundation.

Managing Editor: Julienne Kim

Copy Editor: Mary Cason

Designer: CoDe. New York Inc., Jenny 8 Del Corte Hirschfeld and
Mischa Leiner
Color separations and printing: Professional Graphics Inc., Rockford, IL

Copyright © 2011 by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
at New York University

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in
writing from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World except
by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Cover Illustration: Hathor-headed Crystal Pendant. Gold and rock

crystal, El-Kurru, Pyramid 55, 750–720 BC (Napatan Period, reign of
Piye). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition:
21.321. Photography © 2011 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The book was typeset in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk Buch and

Monotype Impact and printed on Productolith Matte Text.
Printed in the USA.