The Nubian pyramids were constructed by the rulers of the ancient Kushite kingdoms in the region of the Nile Valley known as Nubia, located in present-day northern Sudan.

In Nubian culture, the pyramids were integral to burial customs for royalty and other wealthy figures of the Kushite kingdom, with this practice starting as early as the 7th century BC.

[3] The Nubian pyramids were built over a period of a few hundred years to serve as tombs for the kings and queens and wealthy citizens of Napata and Meroë.

The earliest pyramids in El Kurru were constructed in 751 BC,[4] which formed the center of the Empire of Kush during the Napatan period, ca.

Following this, a new Egyptian dynasty formed, defeating the Nubians and regaining its independence in 593 BC In response, the capital of Nubia was moved from Napata to Meroe.

One of the tools used was shadoof counterbalanced lever hoist, of which the central pivot poles were left buried in the center of the pyramid and covered by their respective cap stones.

The more traditional tumulus made way for the pyramid amongst Nubian royalty, but the chapels and underground burial chambers remained from the previous time period.

Wall reliefs preserved in the tomb chapels reveal that their royal occupants were mummified, covered with jewellery and laid to rest in wooden mummy cases.

At the time of their exploration by archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries, some pyramids were found to contain the remains of bows, quivers of arrows, archers' thumb rings, horse harnesses, wooden boxes, furniture, pottery, colored glass, metal vessels, and many other artifacts attesting to extensive Meroitic trade with Egypt and the Hellenistic world.

A cow buried complete with eye ointment was also unearthed in the area to be flooded by the Meroë Dam, as were ringing rocks that were tapped to create a melodic sound.

[13] The physical proportions of Nubian pyramids differ markedly from the Egyptian pyramids: they are built of stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks and range approximately 6–30 metres (20–98 ft) in height, but rise from fairly small foundation footprints, resulting in tall, narrow structures inclined at approximately 70°.

This was a longtime source of confusion to archaeologists until George Reisner discovered that the entryways were filled in and concealed following the ruler's funeral.

In the 1830s Giuseppe Ferlini came to Meroe seeking treasure and raided and demolished a number of pyramids which had been found "in good conditions" by Frédéric Cailliaud just a few years earlier.

[14] At Wad ban Naqa, he leveled the pyramid N6 of the kandake Amanishakheto starting from the top, and found dozens of gold and silver jewelry pieces.

His finds were finally sold in Germany: part of these were purchased by King Ludwig I of Bavaria and are now in the State Museum of Egyptian Art of Munich, while the remaining – under suggestions of Karl Richard Lepsius and of Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen – was bought by the Egyptian Museum of Berlin where it still is.