Recent archaeological research is reshaping scholarly understanding of ancient burial practices in the Nile Valley. A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology—led by Dr. Sarah Schrader of Leiden University—presents compelling bioarchaeological evidence from the site of Tombos in modern-day Sudan (ancient Nubia), suggesting that pyramid tombs were not exclusively reserved for the elite.
Instead, they may have served as burial sites for a more socially diverse population, including “low-status high-labor staff,” the researchers write in their paper.
Pyramid Burial: Only For Kings?
For decades, the prevailing view among Egyptologists has been that pyramid tombs symbolized wealth, authority, and divine kingship, primarily constructed for pharaohs, nobles, and high-ranking officials during the Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt.
However, looking at the dig at Tombos, situated near the Third Cataract of the Nile, part of a broader Egyptian colonial expansion into Nubia during the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 BCE), new evidence suggests otherwise.
An Inclusive Funeral Tradition
At this time, Egyptian officials established administrative centers and mortuary landscapes throughout the region. Tombos features over 110 pyramid-shaped structures built between the New Kingdom and the Napatan period, spanning nearly 3,000 years of continuous occupation.
Through osteological analysis of skeletal remains excavated from these pyramid tombs, Schrader and her team identified significant variations in indicators of physical activity. Some skeletons showed signs of intensive labor—such as pronounced muscle attachment sites and spinal degeneration—while others lacked these markers, suggesting less physically demanding lifestyles.
“Other cemetery areas seem to include individuals whose activity levels were more moderate,” Schrader writes in the study.
This inclusivity raises new questions about how identity, status, and power were negotiated and expressed in colonial settings. It also highlights how Egyptian mortuary customs were selectively adapted and reinterpreted in Nubia.
Importantly, the study situates the pyramid burials at Tombos within the larger framework of imperialism and cultural hybridity. While Egyptians had largely abandoned pyramid burials by the New Kingdom—favoring hidden cliffside tombs in places like the Valley of the Kings—the continued use of pyramid forms in Nubia suggests their enduring symbolic value in local contexts.
Rather than representing rigid status divisions, these pyramids may have functioned as accessible symbols of cultural identity or aspirational markers of prestige for individuals outside the traditional elite class.
More to the Pyramid Story
This research contributes to a broader trend in archaeology that questions overly simplistic narratives of social hierarchy in the ancient world. By integrating osteological (bone) data with historical and architectural analysis, Schrader’s work opens new avenues for understanding how burial traditions reflected complex identities shaped by empire, labor, and regional exchange.
“This study speaks to the importance of reanalyzing data; with continued excavations, dating, and biomolecular analysis, interpretations of lived experience in the past can be completely altered,” the researchers note in their paper.
While claims about hidden underground cities beneath the pyramids of Giza have recently captured the public’s imagination, peer-reviewed studies like this one offer a more grounded and scientifically robust contribution to our understanding of the ancient world. They remind us that even in the shadows of monumental architecture, the lives of ordinary people—laborers, artisans, and community members—can still be traced, studied, and remembered.
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Science Communicator at JILA (a world-leading physics research institute) and a science writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with her on BlueSky or contact her via email at kenna@thedebrief.org