Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

In the Second Intermediate Period (late 13th to 17th Dynasty), the territories that had been ruled by the centralized Egyptian state—including Lower Nubia—were divided between the kingdom of Kerma, the Theban kingdom, the kingdom of Avaris, and possibly other little known political entities. A gap in the written documentation calls for a wide use of sigillographic and archaeological evidence in the reconstruction of the history of this period. Material culture, art, and administration developed independently in different parts of Egypt due to a lack of a centralized state. In the Theban kingdom, the local administration of the Late Middle Kingdom persisted in a reduced form, as attested by private stelae, statues, and tomb inscriptions.