After 2000 BC the Egyptians took control of Lower Nubia. They named the regions and rulers of Upper Nubia in their Execration Texts - pots or figurines on which they wrote the names of their enemies. By breaking or burying these objects, the Egyptians hoped magically to defeat those whose names were thus symbolically obliterated.
Two such regions were Shaat and Kush. It is possible that Kush was a powerful state based at Kerma, signified by the vast seemingly royal tombs in the cemetery there, and that there were lesser capitals at Shaat and Bugdumbush. The presence of so powerful a neighbour in Upper Nubia explains why the Egyptians needed to build such formidable defences across Lower Nubia.
By about 1650 BC, taking advantage of political strife in Egypt, this Kushite kingdom was gaining control of Lower Nubia as well, sacking the fortified Egyptian towns.
The Kushite rulers, their dead buried with great extravagance beneath huge mounds over 300 ft (90 m) across, controlled the southern trade routes into Egypt and elaborated their capital at Kerma with monumental brick temples, massive fortifications and a royal palace.
