When you think about pyramids, chances are you picture the epic ones of Egypt. But it’s Sudan that has 250 of pyramids, between 100 to 130 more than its Egyptian neighbors. Yet, despite this startling number of pyramids in the country, the treasures of the ancient Kushites largely are unexplored.

From the 8th century B.C. until the 4th century A.D., the Kushites ruled a great area of land next to the Nile, at times spreading all the way up to the Mediterranean. At some points they were allies with the Egyptians, sometimes enemies, but simply looking at the similar remnants of their civilizations shows how fluid Egyptian and Kushite cultures were. Though the pyramids are a lot smaller than their Egyptian counterparts, with smaller bases and steeper walls, they were also burial sites where sometimes-mummified royalty were laid to rest next to treasures of silver, gold and jewels. However, unlike the Egyptians, who built pyramids as tombs for their pharaohs before they died, the Kushites buried their dead and then built these pyramids on top of the graves.

The pyramids sit in Kush’s ancient capital of Meroe, but there are other buildings like temples, palaces and industrial buildings used for trade surrounding them. Some of them are remarkably intact. In fact, most of the buildings remained mostly unharmed until the 19th century when an Italian treasure hunter arrived at the site and hacked the tops off of 40 pyramids looking for rumored gold and jewels. Recently, authorities have tried to restore them for visitors, but it isn’t exactly an easy task restoring 2,000-year-old buildings in a war-torn nation. In fact, the Department of State discourages visits right now due to the ongoing violence.

You can check out some amazing drone footage of the site from National Geographic in the video below.