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.

[8] As a capital city and location of royal burials, Kerma sheds light on the complex social structure present in this society.

These are believed to be the graves of the city's final kings, some of which contain motifs and artwork reflecting Egyptian deities such as Horus.

[15] In addition, artifacts such as scarab seals and amulets are prolific, indicating extensive trade with ancient Egypt as well as an exchange of cultural ideas.

Early archaeology at Kerma started with an Egyptian and Sudanese survey made by George A. Reisner, an American with joint appointments at Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

A basic chronology of Kerman culture was established based on the work of Reisner's Harvard-Boston expedition (1913–1916); this provided the scaffolding for all other findings in the region.

The Upper/Eastern Deffufa was located amidst thousands of low, round graves, with clear stylistic differences between the northern, middle, and southern parts of the cemetery.

"The patient and diligent work of Bonnet and his colleagues unearthed the foundations of numerous houses, workshops, and palaces, proving that as early as 2000 BC Kerma was a large urban center, presumably the capital city and a burial ground of the kings of Kush".

"[19] In 2003, black granite statues of pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt were discovered near Kerma by Charles Bonnet and his archaeological team.

"In the Early Kerma period, 2500-2050 BC, burials are marked by a low, circular superstructure of slabs of black sandstone, stuck into the ground in concentric circles.

Because burial chambers can be easily entered, one could question the likelihood of the sacrifice of a wife and/or child when a man dies, without any ethnohistorical evidence to support this in this culture.

Without the normal processes of decomposition to skeletonize the body, soft tissues, hairs, and organic grave goods are still often found (e.g., textiles, feathers, leather, fingernails).

Accompanying individuals in the tumuli at Kerma are interpreted as wives sacrificed upon the death of the husband, but the bioarchaeological evidence does not support this archaeological conclusion.

She does not use the same parsing strategy when considering Colles' fractures (of the wrist, usually occur when falling onto one's hands) may result from being pushed from a height rather than interpersonal violence, and this is not acknowledged.

The results of the study determined the predominant pattern of the 1st dynasty Egyptian crania was "Southern" or a “tropical African variant” (though others were also observed), which had affinities with Kerma Kushites.

The general results demonstrate greater affinity with Upper Nile Valley groups, but also suggest clear change from earlier craniometric trends.