ABSTRACT
If the origins of the Napatan kingdom left no historical records, archaeology has, as yet, also been unable to throw much light on this subject. As we have seen, very little is known about the Dongola Reach after the conquest of Kerma during the New Kingdom. As yet we have virtually no archaeological material from the later second millennium BC or early centuries of the first millennium BC, and indeed our ability to identify confidently material of these periods remains very uncertain. As such, there is no reason to suspect that the mysteries surrounding the origins of the Napatan state are anything other than a reflection of inadequate fieldwork. How limited our knowledge still is, is well-illustrated by recent discoveries of a significant New Kingdom presence at Kerma, probably the most intensively explored locale in the whole region. Sites with pottery continuing ‘Late’ Kerma traditions are increasingly being found in the Dongola Reach, and it is likely that while some will date to the period of the New Kingdom, others may well be even later, dating to the post-New Kingdom/ ‘proto-Kushite’ centuries (e.g. Żurawski 2000).
