Eastern Deffufa at Kerma — Funerary Chapel
Eastern Deffufa · Kerma Eastern Massif
Classic Kerma to New Kingdom, c.1750-1500 BCE·Kerma (Kushite)·🇸🇩 Northern State, Sudan
About
About Eastern Deffufa at Kerma — Funerary Chapel
Eastern Deffufa 600 m east of Western Deffufa at Kerma: smaller solid mudbrick massif 24×24 m, 11 m high, with chapel and enclosure. Excavated by Reisner and Bonnet. Later Egyptian New Kingdom temple built atop (Amenhotep III conversion). Mirrors Western but funerary chapel more intact, with offering tables and cattle bucrania deposits. Demonstrates Kerma dual-massif ideology — Western for kings, Eastern for ancestors/queens?
Why it mattersKey Kerma (Kushite) pyramid with stratified sequence and regional importance.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Eastern smaller — queen vs king or chronological evolution
- 02Degree of Egyptian reuse vs destruction
Theories
- 01Eastern Deffufa as queen's mortuary temple paired with Western king's
- 02Egyptian appropriation converting Kerma cult to Amun
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1650 BCE (Classic Kerma, slightly later than Western)
- Period
- Classic Kerma to New Kingdom, c.1750-1500 BCE
- Culture
- Kerma (Kushite)
- Purpose
- Smaller eastern mudbrick massif at Kerma with funerary chapel — companion to Western Deffufa, later converted to Egyptian temple of Amenhotep III
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1650 BCE
Construction as eastern funerary massif
c.1400 BCE
Egyptian conversion to Amun temple under Amenhotep III
1913
Reisner clearance
On the ground
Structures & features
19.6035° N · 30.4165° E · 208 m · 2 mapped features
Eastern massif summit chapel
chapelSmall massif 11 m high with funerary chapel containing offering tables and bucrania (cattle skulls)
19.6035° N · 30.4165° EEgyptian temple conversion (Amenhotep III)
templeSandstone Egyptian temple foundations layered over Kerma massif, columns and door jamb with cartouche
19.6034° N · 30.4166° E