Most ancient pyramids (country)

The country with the most extant ancient pyramids is Sudan with at least 230 (some posit up to 255) examples still standing as of 2025. By comparison, the total in neighbouring Egypt is between 120 and 140.

Sudan’s pyramids were built over a period of approximately a millennium during the Kingdom of Kush, which flourished in the Nile Valley of Nubia (a historic region that now lies across northern Sudan and southern Egypt) from c. 780 BCE to 330 CE. As per ancient Egypt, they were created as tombs for royalty and other high-ranking nobles and officials; unlike in Egypt, the deceased would be laid to rest beneath the pyramids rather than within them.

Kushite pyramids of Sudan were on the whole much smaller than the grander structures created in neighbouring Egypt and typically had steeper sides with a more pointed apex. The largest example is the Pyramid of Taharqa – a ruler who presided over both the Kingdom of Kush and Egypt from 690 to 664 BCE – whose burial structure was crafted to imitate a more Egyptian style, with a 51.75-m (170-ft) square base and 40–50 m (130–165 ft) tall when complete.

There are three particularly prominent sites within Sudan where the country’s pyramids are centred, all of which were royal cemeteries at different stages of the Kushite civilization. The greatest concentration are located at Nuri, where there were once at least 82 pyramids; today, 25 remain still standing.

Outside of Africa, the countries with the next most examples of pyramids are the USA and Mexico with around 35 and 20, respectively. Mexico is home to the world’s largest pyramid by volume: the Great Pyramid of Cholula (aka Tlachihualtepetl – “man-made mountain”) in Puebla, with a volume of c. 4.45 million m3 (157.1 million cu ft). The roots of this pyramid, which is now mainly concealed within a hill, date back to c. 300 BCE, though work continued on it till c. 800 CE), adapted and expanded by several cultures over the centuries, including the Olmec and Toltec peoples.