🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Izapa
Late Formative 1500 BCE–100 CE (Izapa style) · Mixe-Zoque? / early Maya (Izapan)
90 stelae with Popol Vuh genesis narrative, 1500 BCE–100 CE.
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315 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Late Formative 1500 BCE–100 CE (Izapa style) · Mixe-Zoque? / early Maya (Izapan)
90 stelae with Popol Vuh genesis narrative, 1500 BCE–100 CE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Late Classic (Tepeu 2) · Maya (Tikal dynasty)
Tikal Temple VI — 12 m pyramid with 12 m roof comb bearing 180-glyph history text of Tikal 766 CE, SE causeway terminus.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Classic to Postclassic Puuc (600–1000 CE) · Maya (Puuc)
Iconic rounded-corner Puuc pyramid 40 m high with oval base 46 × 37 m, steep west stair 150 steps at 60°, five superimposed temples (Temple I-V) built over 600 years: Chenes then Puuc.
🇮🇷 Iran · Pyramid
Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (Uruk to ED) · Proto-Elamite / Jemdet Nasr
Early highland proto-ziggurat at Tepe Musiyan, Deh Luran — 50×70 m oval platform c.3100 BCE linking Uruk Susiana to Elamite highland terraces.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early Postclassic 850–1160 CE (Tollan apogee 950–1150) · Toltec (Tolteca-Chichimeca, Nahua-affiliated)
Capital of Toltec Empire (Tollan, 950–1160 CE) spanning 16 km² on Malinche Hill: Pyramid B (Temple of the Morning Star) crowned by four 4.6 m basalt Atlante warrior columns on coatepantli (serpent…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Old Kingdom, 3rd Dynasty, ~2630 BCE · Ancient Egyptian
Northernmost minor step pyramid opposite Hebenu, Minya (c.2630 BCE), 22 m base on limestone spur.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Middle Horizon Moche V (600–750 CE, post-Moche IV collapse in south, Pampa Grande phase) · Moche (Moche V, Lambayeque polity)
Moche V (600–750 CE) fortress-pyramid Huaca Fortaleza at Pampa Grande: adobe mass 250×200 m 40 m high truncated with 290 m long ramp west, enclosing plaza 400×250 m, with elite compound atop.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Middle Preclassic to Late Classic (1000 BCE–900 CE; E-Group 600–300 BCE) · Maya (Preclassic then Tikal sphere)
Type-site of Mesoamerican E-Group solar observatory: western radial pyramid E-VII (Late Preclassic 500 BCE) aligning via three eastern platforms to sunrise solstices/equinoxes, deliberate horizon…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Classic Maya (Chenés) · Maya (Chenés / Río Bec)
Chenés monster-mouth pyramid Structure II at Hormiguero — 12 m stepped pyramid with 6 m Witz doorway c.600–850 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Classic Maya 600–900 CE · Maya (Chontal-Jaina, Gulf)
Northern brick barrio of only brick-built Maya city: three temples with stamped oyster-shell bricks on swamp platform.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Formative (Zacatenco–Cuicuilco phases 800 BCE–150 CE; pyramid 400–150 BCE) · Central Mexican Formative (Cuicuilco)
Only circular pyramid in Basin of Mexico: 4-tiered terraced circular platform 135 m diameter, 25 m high (originally 27 m) with ramp-spiral stair ascending clockwise, built 400–150 BCE (late…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Moche (Mochica) 100–800 CE (Huaca de la Luna 100–600 CE; Sol 450–600 CE peak) · Moche (Moche culture)
Twin massive adobe pyramid complexes of Moche state (100–800 CE): Huaca del Sol 43 m high (185 × 41 m base, largest pre-Columbian adobe mass in Americas, 143 million bricks stamped with maker's…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Epiclassic Bajío 600–900 CE · Bajío (Peralta/Plazuelas tradition)
Second sector of Guanajuato ballcourt city with petroglyph boulder field and U-pyramid 12 m.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Epiclassic Bajío 600–900 CE · Bajío Tradition (Northern frontier)
Hilltop city with 1,324 rock-carved building models, 600–900 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Formative–Early Classic Teuchitlán 350 BCE–400 CE · Teuchitlán tradition (Western Mexico)
Mesoamerica's only circular pyramids: nine concentric guachimontones with shaft tombs and Tequila volcano obsidian.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Late 3rd Dynasty (Huni, c.2630 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian (Huni)
Huni minor step pyramid 18.63 m base, 3 steps, ~8 m high today of limestone with eastern chapel trace, on desert slope 2.5 km west of Hierakonpolis predynastic capital (Nekhen).
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
4th Dynasty, c.2520 BCE (Baka / Bikheris) · Ancient Egyptian (Baka)
Unfinished pyramid Z2 at northern Zawiyet el-Aryan: enormous square foundation trench 110 m base, oval shaft 15 m deep and 20×25 m, intended pyramid never raised beyond foundation.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
late 3rd–early 4th Dynasty, c.2630 BCE · Ancient Egyptian (Huni/Sneferu)
Three-step small pyramid at Ombos (Kom el-Ahmar) west of Naqada: 14 m base, 3 steps, now low mound. Excavated by Flinders Petrie, Quibell and later Kaiser-Dreyer.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Classic Veracruz 100–1000 CE · Classic Veracruz (Remojadas-Early Gulf)
26-m earthen platform pyramid on Gulf coastal plain, 100–1000 CE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Archaeological wonder
Maya Classic 150–950 CE · Maya (Naachtun/Masuul and K'an affiliation)
Strategic Classic Maya city between Tikal and Calakmul, 150–950 CE.
🇨🇳 China · Pyramid
Goguryeo Kingdom 37 BCE–668 CE (pyramids 3–7 c CE peak) · Goguryeo (Korean–Chinese proto-state)
Eastern Asia's largest tumulus pyramid cluster: 7,000+ stone step-pyramids and earthen mounds 3 Kingdoms Goguryeo (37 BCE–668 CE) across Ji'an (Tonggou, Guonei) and DPRK Pyongyang cluster.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Postclassic (Militaristic) 1100–1521 CE · Zapotec-Mixtec (Late Zapotec)
Final Zapotec capital with two Mixtec polychrome tombs and unfinished pyramid, 1100–1521.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Neo-Assyrian (883–612 BCE imperial capital; ziggurat 883 BCE) · Assyrian (Neo-Assyrian)
Assyrian imperial second capital Kalhu/Nimrud (Assurnasirpal II 883–859 BCE): mudbrick ziggurat crowning citadel mound adjacent to Northwest Palace with famous Nimrud ivories, throne room and lamassu.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Early Dynastic to Parthian (3000 BCE–250 CE; ziggurat Ur III – Kassite layers) · Sumerian → Old Babylonian → Kassite → Assyrian
Religious capital of Sumer: never politically capital but seat of Enlil, father of gods, whose temple E-kur (Mountain House) dominated canal holy city Nippur.