Jebel Barkal

Jebel Barkal is a small mesa rising about 104 meters above the surrounding plain near the town of Karima in Sudan's Northern State, close to the Nile River in the Nubia region and about 400 kilometers north of Khartoum. Its flat-topped profile made it a sacred landmark to a succession of ancient cultures: first venerated by the Kerma culture, then adopted by New Kingdom Egyptians and later by the Napatan and Meroitic kingdoms as a ceremonial center. Jebel Barkal and its surrounding archaeological remains were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, and the site today includes the Jebel Barkal Museum. This entity documents Jebel Barkal specifically as a geological formation, a flat-topped Nile-valley mesa, a distinct facet from its long-standing religious and archaeological significance, which is a gap named for a cross-atlas edge to divinity or history.