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CategoriesPyramids
From Giza and Saqqara to Teotihuacan, Meroë and the contested mounds.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Preceramic, c.3500-1800 BCE (Norte Chico–Central Coast) · Andean (Preceramic / Norte Chico)
El Paraíso at Chuquitanta north Lima (Chillón Valley): enormous preceramic monumental center 58 ha, 12 pyramids aligned north-south. Unit I principal pyramid 200×150 m, 10 m high.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Middle Bronze to Late Bronze to Iron Age (c.2200–700 BCE, peak Levels VII–IV 1480–1270 BCE) · Amorite / Mitanni / Hittite / Mukish (Alalakh, Yamhad dependency)
Palatial mound Tell Atchana (Alalakh, capital of Mukish) 20 ha, 20 m high on Orontes plain: Middle Bronze palace Level VII (Idrimi c.1480 BCE) 80×50 m with archive 200 tablets and throne room with…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Early Intermediate Moche (100–800 CE, six building phases A–F, peak 400–650 CE) · Moche (Mochica, ceremonial counterpart to Del Sol administrative)
Ceremonial Moche pyramid (100–800 CE, 45×38 m 21 m high with six construction phases superpositioned — temple buried inside temple) at Cerro Blanco base opposite Del Sol.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic to Early Postclassic (300–1200 CE, walls 900–1200) · Maya (Tojolabal / highland Chiapas)
Fortified Late Classic–Postclassic Maya capital (300–1200 CE, fortification 900–1200) crowning limestone hilltop 250 m above Comitán valley: 60+ structures, walled core (60 ha) with 4.5-m-thick…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Kerma to New Kingdom (2000–1100 BCE) · Kerma / Egyptian syncretic
Separate walled ceremonial city 400x200 m discovered 700 m north of Kerma's Western Deffufa, revealing sub-Saharan African architecture (oval huts, timber palisades and 20 round temples) alongside…
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Initial Period–Early Horizon (Chavín predecessor) · Manchoïd–Chavín (Garagay tradition)
Formative U-temple (1400–600 BCE) in Lima urban sprawl on hill above Chillón Valley, with U-shaped adobe mound 30 m, central court frontal stair, facing wings 150 m, and recently u...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom (12th Dyn) · Ancient Egyptian
Amenemhat III's mudbrick Hawara pyramid and Herodotan labyrinth mortuary temple.
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Formative to Early Intermediate (Chavín–Recuay) · Chavín–Recuay (Pashash)
Valley-head platform complex (1000 BCE–600 CE) at foot of Cordillera Blanca east of Huaylas, on Hualcayán fan at 3180 m with terraced Chavínoid temple overlain by Recuay galleries,...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
late 3rd Dynasty, c.2650 BCE (Khaba) · Ancient Egyptian (Khaba)
Unfinished layer pyramid Z1 at Zawiyet el-Aryan between Giza and Abu Rawash: 84 m base, 5–7 layers intended, now 20 m high rubble mound of limestone with pink granite foundation.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early Preclassic–Postclassic Puuc (300 BCE–1500 CE, zenith 475–750) · Maya (Early Puuc – northwestern border)
Strategic Puuc border capital (300 BCE–1500 CE, florescent 475–750 Classic Early Puuc) northwest tip of Puuc, controlling Mérida–Uxmal–Calakmul corridor: 3 major groups (Ah Canul, May, Dzib) over 50…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Late Classic 400–830 CE (peak 608–808 CE, Dynasty of Piedras Negras 7 lords) · Maya (Yo’k’ib / Piedras Negras kingdom, western Petén)
Largest Classic Maya city on Guatemala's Usumacinta north bank (1,000+ structures, pyramid temples 20 m high) famous for epigraphy: Tatiana Proskouriakoff here invented phonetic Maya glyph…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Old Kingdom, late 3rd–early 4th Dynasty (~2630 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian
Minor step pyramid 5.5 km SE of Abydos (c.2630 BCE), 12.7 m base, Huni's provincial network.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Maya Classic (Late Classic palace) · Maya (Highland-Pasión portage traders)
Maya water-palace city Cancuén (400–800 CE): 230×150 m largest Maya palace (170 rooms) with attached shrine-pyramids on Pasión River, sacked c.800 CE with elite massacre in cistern.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic (Río Bec) · Maya (Río Bec)
Classic Río Bec city (c.500–800 CE) anchoring Xpujil town with famous Structure I — 53-m-long three-tower pyramid with three summit temples and false non-functional stair theatrics...
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Early Intermediate Lima pyramid (300–600 CE), Middle Horizon Wari cemetery (600–800 CE), Late Intermediate Ychsma/Inca shrine (1000–1500 CE) · Lima / Wari / Ychsma–Inca (triple palimpsest)
Triple-use huaca in San Isidro central Lima: truncated adobe pyramid 85×65 m 25 m high (Lima culture 300–600 CE sand-and-adobe) over Preceramic midden, with Middle Horizon Wari cemetery (600–800 CE)…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Preclassic to Late Classic (100 BCE–900 CE) · Maya (Kaan polity satellite)
Hugely sprawling 4 km² Late Classic centre (250–900 CE) between Tikal and Calakmul, dominated by Pyramid M1 (30x25 m, 14 m high with roof comb) and K2 double pyramid acropolis (two 12 m pyramids on…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Old Babylonian / Isin-Larsa Period · Amorite Babylonian (Larsa)
Amorite ziggurat of sun-god Shamash at Larsa (Tell Senkerah) c.1950–1760 BCE: 70 × 40 m Ebabbara complex, capital of Isin-Larsa kingdom before Hammurabi.
🇪🇨 Ecuador · Pyramid
Integration–Late Period (Carchi–Quitu-Cara–Inca) · Quitu-Cara (Ecuadorian Highlands) with Inca overlay
Equatorial ramp pyramids (1250–1500 CE) at 3,040 m — 15 truncated pyramids with 200-m ramps to Cayambe.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon — Gallinazo/Virú, Mochica and Wari–Huari (200 BCE–900 CE) · Virú–Gallinazo, Moche, Wari
Capital mound on south bank mid Virú River overlooking valley neck, first stratified mound excavation in Peru (Bennett 1936), defining Virú (Gallinazo) ceramic sequence underlying Moché.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty · Ancient Egyptian
Dramatic triangular mudbrick island fortress (c.1850 BCE) perched on rocky islet midstream of the formerly turbulent Second Cataract, complementing Semna system.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Mississippian Pisgah & Qualla phases (1000–1450 CE) · Mississippian (Pisgah, later Cherokee precursor)
Three-mound Mississippian Pisgah phase (1000–1450 CE) center at Garden Creek confluence with Pigeon River, southern Appalachians: Mound 1—platform 35×25 m base, 3.5 m high with two-stage summit…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom, late 12th Dynasty, ~1795 BCE · Ancient Egyptian
Southern Mazghuna pyramid, 400 m south of north (c.1795 BCE), 52.5 m base, Amenemhat IV candidate.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Meroitic (but Napatan tradition), c.700 BCE–300 CE · Kushite / Napatan
Sedeinga 2 km west of Soleb on desert ridge: ~80 small pyramids (6-8 m base, 7-10 m high) with chapels for Kushite Napatan queens, princesses and children.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Early Dynastic to Akkadian (3000–2150 BCE) · Sumerian–Akkadian (Diyala/ Akkadian frontier)
Southern Diyala town of Early Dynastic to Akkadian period dominated by 60x55 m Temple of Shara built on high mudbrick terrace (proto-ziggurat) with massive enclosure and two shrines (Shrine I and II)…
