16.6167°N, 33.1667°E.
Late Meroitic to early post-Meroitic burial ground on the east bank of the Nile in central Sudan, roughly 70 kilometres north of modern Khartoum. El-Hobagi is best known for a series of monumental tumulus tombs dating to the late fourth and early fifth centuries CE — the period directly bracketing the collapse of the Meroitic state around 350 CE. Excavations led by Patrice Lenoble of the French archaeological mission between 1989 and 1995 uncovered four large mounds with sealed offering deposits including parade weapons, horse harness fittings, bronze and silver vessels, and a notable cache of iron lances, javelins, and swords. The grave goods combine clear Meroitic, Roman, and indigenous African elements and have been interpreted as belonging to a transitional warrior elite that emerged in the political vacuum after Meroe's fall. The mounds themselves are constructed of stone and packed earth raised over central rectangular pit chambers cut into the soil.
The empire ended, and the burials got bigger, not smaller.