How do the pyramids in Sudan compare?

Who built them and when

The pyramids were built by the Kingdom of Kush, an ancient civilization that ruled Nubia, the upper Nile Valley in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt, for more than a thousand years. The area was home to three successive Kushite kingdoms: the first centered on Kerma (roughly 2500 to 1500 BCE), the second on Napata (1000 to 300 BCE), and the third on Meroë (300 BCE to 300 CE).

While the Giza pyramids were built around 2600 to 2500 BCE, the Nubian pyramids didn't start emerging until about the 7th century BCE. That's a gap of roughly 2,000 years. The Kushite building tradition lasted nearly a thousand years, long after Egypt had stopped raising pyramids altogether.

More pyramids, smaller structures

The highest number of pyramids is actually found in Sudan, which boasts between 220 and 255 compared to Egypt's total of around 118. Most people don't know this. Meroë alone contains roughly 100 pyramids, making it the largest single concentration.

The shape is noticeably different from anything at Giza. The Nubian pyramids are smaller, 20 to 90 feet on a side compared with the Great Pyramid's 756 feet, with much steeper sides, and most were built 2,000 years after those at Giza. Their inclination is approximately 70 degrees, whereas Egyptian pyramids have angles of 40 to 50 degrees.

Purpose and design

Nubian pyramids, unlike ancient Egyptian pyramids, were built as headstones rather than tombs. The ruler's remains would be interred under the pyramid, not inside it. They were also more democratic than Egypt's: in Sudan, nobles who could afford it were buried in pyramids too, not only kings.

The connection to Egypt

Nearly 2,000 years after the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu built his Great Pyramid, the armies of Nubia invaded and occupied Egypt. It was 730 BCE, and by then the Egyptian pharaohs had long since abandoned the practice of erecting massive tombs, partly because it had nearly bankrupted them. But the pyramids clearly fascinated the Nubian kings. They ruled Egypt during the 25th Dynasty until they were ejected in 656 BCE, but Egypt's influence on their cultural practices was long-lasting, and the inhabitants of Nubia found a way to imitate Egypt's monuments.

Where they stand now

The Meroë site is a UNESCO World Heritage location, designated in 2011, and is the most photographed of the Sudanese pyramid fields. They are well documented and archaeologically well understood, which puts them in the same category as the Egyptian pyramids: genuinely ancient, built by a known civilization, with a clear historical record. No mystery of a prior civilization is needed to explain them.