The Pyramid Kingdom arose from the scorpion-kings of old Egypt; in time, this kingdom fell. Then came a newer kingdom. Last December [boy, a lot of things came out last December wot I misst], it turned up that this newer kingdom built a wall.
Nations build walls when they worry about invasions. Not invasions by fellow civilised folk; I don't know that Rome or Iran ever bothered setting up a secure wall between their empires. Nations build walls when they can't work out a treaty with the peoples on the other side. They build walls against savages.
(Note to politicians: if you claim a state and you can't control your subjects yourself, don't get upset if I call them savages. Civilise them! or suck it up, savage.)
The newer kingdom in Egypt set up their wall up the Nile at its Second Cataract. They figured the Nubians as Beyond The Pale, in their day.
Now for the punchline. Egyptologists today don't call this newer kingdom The New Kingdom - they call it the Middle Kingdom. That is because this kingdom failed, before rising again under an Upper Egyptian dynasty. The Nubians up the Nile weren't those who toppled this empire; it was the Shepherd Kings, the hyksos from Asia.
Events, dear boy. Events.
(As for the Nubians post-1500 BC: they have maintained viable nationstates well into our own Middle Ages - "The Mahdi" notwithstanding. It helped that they were living alongside a river in one of this world's worst deserts. Their era of savagery is decidedly shorter than that of, say, the Scots'.)
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