WritingEarly KushiteAlthough steles, dating to 1600 BC, are abundantly found at Kerma, traces of writing on their surfaces did not survive. Thus, we don't know if Kushites had a writing system at that time or not. However, inscriptions and graffiti in Nubia date back to predynastic Egypt1. However, evidence for writing in the Kerma kingdom, would have most likely been destroyed during the Egyptian invasions of Kerma in the sixteenth or later century BC. After all, it was a habit of the Egyptian kings to erase writings and evidence that pertain to their enemies. Hence, it wouldn't be appropriate to make solid conclusions on the literacy of the Kerma people.
Most of the evidence, we have for literacy in Kush date for the period after the sixth century BC; these were found in Napatan constructions built of durable materials, such as backed bricks and sandstone. The durable-material built walls, as well as steles that were kept safe in temples and palaces were carved and painted extensively with inscriptions. The Kushites writing was the same as that of the ancient Egyptians; the written language consisted of hieroglyphs, and hieratic and demotic scripts. However, due to lack of archeological work, we can not say for sure what language was written before the sixth century BC. Phonology was frequently used in Nubia to represent consonants. The writing was used mainly to communicate between the royal and the religious institutions as well as commemorate big events. Kushite writings were mostly sacred as they were related to funerary practices like books of the dead and pyramid texts . Starting from the second century CE, the Kushites language was written, which became known as Meroitic (i.e., named after the city of Meroe).
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