   kerma (now known as dukki gel, a nubian term which can be roughly translated as "red mound") was the capital city of the kingdom of kerma, which was located in present day egypt and sudan. kerma is one of the largest nubian archaeological sites. it has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, including thousands of graves and tombs and the residential quarters of the main city surrounding the western/lower deffufa. the kerma site has been confirmed by archaeology to be at least 9,500 years old. around 3000 bc, a cultural tradition began around kerma. kerma was a large urban center that was built around a large mud brick temple, known as the western deffufa. some unique aspects of this culture were beautiful pottery, the importance of cattle, a system of defense, and the king's audience chamber, which bears no resemblance to any egyptian building (it was rebuilt 10 times). 'kerma' is also used to describe the early sudanese culture, of which kerma was capital. the material culture at kerma is synonymous with the culture of kush. this was one of the earliest african civilizations, commanding an empire that circa 1600 bce rivaled egypt (stretching from the first to fourth cataracts). as a capital city and location of royal burials, it sheds light on the complex social structure present in this anhistoric society (there was no indigenous writing system in nubia). kerma is about  south of aswan/the first cataract.  ==early settlement== human populations settled in the kerma basin at a very early date, as evidenced by several mesolithic and neolithic sites. the earliest traces of a human presence in the region date back tens of thousands of years. from 7500
Cities_in_Ancient_Egypt Former_populated_places_in_Sudan History_of_Nubia