This is a list of Mesoamerican pyramids or ceremonial structures. In most cases they are not true pyramids. There are hundreds of these done in many different styles throughout Mexico and Central America. These were made by several pre-Columbian cultures including the Olmecs, Maya, Toltecs, and Aztecs. In most cases they were made by city states that created many structures in the same style. The style for each city state is usually different. These are usually made out of stone and mortar but some of the earliest may have been made out of clay.
Site | Name of Pyramid | Culture | Base length (m) | Height (m) | Incli- nation | Approximate Time of Construction | Function | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altun Ha Belize | Maya | 16 | 200 to 900 CE | ||||||
Cañada de la Virgen Mexico | Otomi | 15+ | 540 to 1040 CE | The Pyramids and surrounding complex were built to house priests, along with serving as a burial ground. | These are the only Otomi pyramids we currently know of. | ||||
Caracol Belize | Caana | Maya | 43 | A triadic pyramid, Caana is the highest man-made structure in Belize | |||||
Caracol Belize | Temple of the Wooden Lintel | Maya | |||||||
Lamanai Belize | High Temple | Maya | 33 | Pre-Classic Period | |||||
Lamanai Belize | Jaguar Temple | Maya | 20 | Pre-Classic Period | |||||
Lamanai Belize | Mask Temple | Maya | 17 | Early Classic Period | |||||
Lubaantun Belize | Maya | 730 to 890 CE | Lubaantun's structures are mostly built of large stone blocks with no mortar, using primarily black slate rather than limestone. | ||||||
Tula Mexico | Piramid B | Toltec | The pyramid is dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, and topped with Atlantean columns, carved like warriors. | ||||||
Lubaantun Belize | Maya | 730 to 890 CE | Lubaantun includes many small step pyramids in addition to its far larger one. | ||||||
Nim Li Punit Belize | Maya | Tallest 12 | 400 to 800 CE | Nim Li Punit has several small-step pyramids, but none that possessed the sheer mass of other examples. | |||||
Xunantunich Belize | El Castillo | Maya | 40 | 600 to 900 CE | |||||
San Andrés El Salvador | the Bell of San Andrés | Maya | 600 to 900 CE | This is a scale model of structure 5. There are several other smaller structures that may be similar to pyramids on the site. | |||||
Tazumal El Salvador | Maya | 250 to 900 CE | |||||||
Aguateca Guatemala | Maya | 6 | 760 to 830 CE | This temple pyramid was left unfinished when the city was abandoned. Its purpose is still unknown. | |||||
Dos Pilas Guatemala | LD-49 | Maya | 20 | after 629 CE | This pyramid's main stairway (known as Hieroglyphic Stairway 2) contains at least eighteen hieroglyphic steps. However, some glyphs are undecipherable due to age. | ||||
Dos Pilas Guatemala | Maya | after 629 CE | This temple pyramid was built by enlarging and terracing a natural hill some way from the site core, giving the impression of a single massive structure. | ||||||
Kaminaljuyu Guatemala | Maya | 250 CE | Kaminaljuyu contains some 200 platforms and pyramidal mounds, at least half of which were made before 250 CE. Some were used to hold temples. | ||||||
El Mirador Guatemala | La Danta | Maya | 72 | 300 BCE to 100 CE | La Danta pyramid temple has an estimated volume of 2,800,000 cubic meters, making it one of the largest pyramids in the world. | ||||
El Mirador Guatemala | El Tigre | Maya | 55 | 300 BCE to 100 CE | |||||
El Puente Honduras | Structure 1 | Maya | 12 | 600 BCE- 900 CE | Religious temple | ||||
Mixco Viejo Guatemala | Maya | 1100 to 1500 CE | |||||||
Tikal Guatemala | Maya | 47 | |||||||
Copán Honduras | Maya | Copán has several overlapping step-pyramids. | |||||||
Bonampak Mexico | The Temple of the Murals | Maya | 580 to 800 CE | ||||||
Calakmul Mexico | The Great Pyramid | Maya | 55 | ||||||
Chichen Itza Mexico | El Castillo | Maya | 55.3 | 30 | |||||
Cholula Mexico | The Great Pyramid of Cholula | 450 sq. | 66 | 300 BCE - 800 CE | The largest pyramid and the largest manmade monument anywhere in the Americas. | ||||
Coba Mexico | The Nohoch Mul pyramid | Maya | 42 | 500 to 900 CE | |||||
Coba Mexico | La Iglesia | Maya | 20 | 500 to 900 CE | |||||
Coba Mexico | Crossroads Temple | Maya | 500 to 900 CE | ||||||
Comalcalco Mexico | Temple 1 | Maya | 20 | 600 CE to 900 CE | The city's buildings were made from fired-clay bricks with mortar made from oyster shells, unique among Maya sites. Many are decorated with iconography and/or hieroglyphs. | ||||
El Tajín Mexico | Pyramid of the Niches | Classic Veracruz | 18 | ||||||
La Venta Mexico | The Great Pyramid | Olmec | 33 | 394 ± 30 BCE | This is one of the earliest pyramids known in Mesoamerica. It was made out of an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of earth fill. | ||||
Mayapan Mexico | Maya | 15 | |||||||
Moral-Reforma Mexico | Conjunto 14 | Maya | 37 | ||||||
Palenque Mexico | Temple of the Cross | Maya | |||||||
Palenque Mexico | Temple of the Inscriptions | Maya | >675 | Bore the Classic Maya name B'olon Yej Te' Naah "House of the Nine Sharpened Spears". | |||||
Santa Cecilia Acatitlan Mexico | Aztec | In 1962, the architect and archaeologist Eduardo Pareyon Moreno reconstructed the pyramid's basement and the temple that crowns it. | |||||||
Tenayuca Mexico | Aztec | 62 by 50 | This is the earliest example yet found of the typical Aztec double pyramid, which consists of joined pyramidal bases supporting two temples. | ||||||
Tenochtitlan Mexico | Templo Mayor | Aztec | 100 by 80 | 1390 to 1500 CE | Tenochtitlan was destroyed by the Spanish. Recreations of this and other pyramids are based on historical text and archaeological ruins. | ||||
Tenochtitlan Mexico | Aztec | 1325 to 1521 CE | Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital city, was completely razed by the Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. Recreations the city are based on historical text and archaeological ruins. This site once included at least half a dozen pyramids. | ||||||
Teotihuacan Mexico | Pyramid of the Sun | Teotihuacano | 223.5 | 71.2 | 32.5 | 100 BCE | There are also dozens of platforms 4 stories high lining the Avenue of the Dead at Teotihuacan. Each step in each story creates a stairway to the top in front of the platforms. | ||
Teotihuacan Mexico | Pyramid of the Moon | Teotihuacano | 43 | 100 BCE | |||||
El Tepozteco Mexico | Aztec | 1502 CE | |||||||
Tula, Hidalgo Mexico | Toltec | ||||||||
Uxmal Mexico | Pyramid of the Magician | Maya | 40 | ||||||
Uxmal Mexico | La Gran Piramide | Maya | |||||||
Xochicalco Mexico | Temple of the Feather Serpent | 200 BCE to 900 CE | |||||||
Xochicalco Mexico | 200 BCE to 900 CE | This is one of several other step-pyramid temples in addition to the Temple of the Feather Serpent | |||||||
Xochitecatl Mexico | The Pyramid of Flowers | 100 by 140 | the Preclassic Period | ||||||
Xochitecatl Mexico | The Spiral Building | 700 BCE | This is a circular stepped pyramid. The interior consists of volcanic ash. The building has no stairway to the top, it was climbed by following the spiral form of the building itself. | ||||||
Yaxchilan Mexico | Maya | 600 to 900 CE | This is one of the pyramids on the upper terrace of Yaxchilan | ||||||
Yarumela Honduras | Estructure 101 | Lenca | 20 | 1000 BCE to 250 CE | Religious temple used for different ceremonies | ||||
Tikal Guatemala | Tikal Temple IV | Maya | 88 by 65 | 70 | 741 AD | The pyramid was built to mark the reign of the 27th king of the Tikal dynasty | Temple IV at the Classic Period Maya ruins of Tikal, 8th century AD, Peten Department, Guatemala. | ||
Tzintzuntzan Mexico | 5 yácata pyramids | Purépecha | Late post-classic period | The pyramids are rounded and have a distinguishable T-like shape. |
A pyramid is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular and converge to a point at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trilateral or quadrilateral
A temple is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temple" in English, while those of other religions are not, even though they fulfill very similar functions. The religions for which the terms are used include the great majority of ancient religions that are now extinct, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion and the Ancient Greek religion. Among religions still active: Hinduism, Buddhism(whose temples are called Vihar), Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, the Baha'i Faith, Taoism, Shinto, Confucianism.
Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, 40 kilometers (25 mi) northeast of modern-day Mexico City.
Uxmal is an ancient Maya city of the classical period located in present-day Mexico. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture, along with Palenque, Chichen Itza and Calakmul in Mexico, Caracol and Xunantunich in Belize, and Tikal in Guatemala. It is located in the Puuc region of the western Yucatán Peninsula, and is considered one of the Maya cities most representative of the region's dominant architectural style. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its significance.
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian ; the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – 250 CE), the Classic (250–900 CE), and the Postclassic (900–1521 CE); as well as the post European contact Colonial Period (1521–1821), and Postcolonial, or the period after independence from Spain (1821–present).
Cempoala or Zempoala is an important Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the municipality of Úrsulo Galván in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The site was inhabited mainly by Totonacs, Chinantecas and Zapotecs. It was one of the most important Totonac settlements during the postclassical Mesoamerican period and the capital of the kingdom of Totonacapan. It is located one kilometer from the shore of the Actopan River and six kilometres from the coast.
The Pyramid of the Moon is the second-largest pyramid in Mesoamerica, after the Pyramid of the Sun, and located in modern-day San Martín de las Pirámides, Mexico. It is found in the western part of the ancient city of Teotihuacan and mimics the contours of the mountain Cerro Gordo, just north of the site. Cerro Gordo may have been called Tenan, which in Nahuatl, means "mother or protective stone". The Pyramid of the Moon covers a structure older than the Pyramid of the Sun which existed prior to 200 AD.
Mesoamerican pyramids form a prominent part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. Although similar in some ways to Egyptian pyramids, these New World structures have flat tops and stairs ascending their faces, more similar to ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurats. The largest pyramid in the world by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the east-central Mexican state of Puebla. The builders of certain classic Mesoamerican pyramids have decorated them copiously with stories about the Hero Twins, the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, Mesoamerican creation myths, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. written in the form of Maya script on the rises of the steps of the pyramids, on the walls, and on the sculptures contained within.
The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan, and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. It is believed to have been constructed about 200 CE. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela, and in the shadow of the mountain Cerro Gordo, the pyramid is part of a large complex in the heart of the city.
The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua concept of teotl was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature. The popular religion tended to embrace the mythological and polytheistic aspects, and the Aztec Empire's state religion sponsored both the monism of the upper classes and the popular heterodoxies.
The Mayan architecture of the Maya civilization spans across several thousands of years, several eras of political change, and architectural innovation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Often, the buildings most dramatic and easily recognizable as creations of the Maya peoples are the step pyramids of the Terminal Preclassic Maya period and beyond. Based in general Mesoamerican architectural traditions, the Maya utilized geometric proportions and intricate carving to build everything from simple houses to ornate temples. This article focuses on the more well-known pre-classic and classic examples of Maya architecture. The temples like the ones at Palenque, Tikal, and Uxmal represent a zenith of Maya art and architecture. Through the observation of numerous elements and stylistic distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become an important key to understanding their religious beliefs and culture as a whole.
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and small parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures.
Mesoamerican architecture is the set of architectural traditions produced by pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica, traditions which are best known in the form of public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures. The distinctive features of Mesoamerican architecture encompass a number of different regional and historical styles, which however are significantly interrelated. These styles developed throughout the different phases of Mesoamerican history as a result of the intensive cultural exchange between the different cultures of the Mesoamerican culture area through thousands of years. Mesoamerican architecture is mostly noted for its pyramids, which are the largest such structures outside of Ancient Egypt.
Ancient Maya art comprises the visual arts of the Maya civilization, an eastern and south-eastern Mesoamerican culture made up of a great number of small kingdoms in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Many regional artistic traditions existed side by side, usually coinciding with the changing boundaries of Maya polities. This civilization took shape in the course of the later Preclassic Period, when the first cities and monumental architecture started to develop and the hieroglyphic script came into being. Its greatest artistic flowering occurred during the seven centuries of the Classic Period.
Talud-tablero is an architectural style most commonly used in platforms, temples, and pyramids in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, becoming popular in the Early Classic Period of Teotihuacan. Talud-tablero consists of an inward-sloping surface or panel called the talud, with a panel or structure perpendicular to the ground sitting upon the slope called the tablero. This may also be referred to as the slope-and-panel style.
Cholula was an important city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dating back to at least the 2nd century BCE, with settlement as a village going back at least some thousand years earlier. The site of Cholula is just west of the modern city of Puebla and served as a trading outpost. Its immense pyramid is the largest such structure in the Americas, and the largest pyramid structure by volume in the world, measuring 4.45 million cubic meters.
Aztec architecture is a late form of Mesoamerican architecture developed by the Aztec civilization. Much of what is known about this style of architecture comes from the structures that are still standing. These structures have survived for several centuries because of the strong materials used and the skill of the builders. Most civic architecture was concentrated in the center of Aztec cities. However, many cities had smaller supplemental ceremonial areas.
The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The civilization is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.
Cañada de la Virgen is an Otomi archaeological site in Mexico. Located in the state of Guanajuato, the site was first excavated in 1995, while the official excavation began in 2002. Public access was first allowed in 2011. However, unlike its famous counterparts such as Chichen-Itzá, access is strictly controlled due to it sitting on private property, one of the largest ex-haciendas in Guanajuato.