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195 places in the atlas, 28 of them inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Geoglyph
Medio period (Casas Grandes, 1060–1340 CE) · Mogollon–Paquimé (Casas Grandes)
60+ adobe and rubble geoglyphs (1060–1340 CE) surrounding the Mogollon city of Paquimé — acolyte owl and avenues.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Medio Period (Casas Grandes, 1205–1340 CE) with Viejo substrate · Casas Grandes (Chihuahua Culture / Mogollon–Paquimé)
Paquimé (Casas Grandes) — Medio Period Great House and Mound is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Chihuahua State, Casas Grandes Municipality, Rio Casas Grandes valley, Mexico — Largest northern…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Classic (Chalchihuites, 350–850 CE, Epiclásico) · Chalchihuites (Zacatecas) → Coyotlatelco contact
La Quemada (Chicomostoc) — Chalchihuites Hilltop Fortress is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Zacatecas State, Villanueva Municipality, Malpaso valley, Cerro La Quemada, Mexico — Hilltop…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Postclassic (c.1200–1519 CE) Totonac – Late Classic foundations · Totonac
Cempoala (Nahuatl Cēmpoalātl, place of twenty waters) is the lowland Totonac metropolis on the coastal plain at Úrsulo Galván, Veracruz, at 10 m asl.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early to Middle Formative 900–400 BCE (Olmec florescence, post-San Lorenzo apogee) · Olmec (Olmeca, language affiliation Gulf-Mixe-Zoque hypothesised)
Apogee Olmec capital (900–400 BCE) – first pyramid in Mesoamerica? – 31 m (some readings 34 m) earthen fluted pyramid-pyramid (C-1) with 10 sunken segments, Complex A (north-palatial plaza with…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Epiclassic to Early Postclassic 600–1100 CE (peak 600–950 CE, Teotihuacan–Tula interstice) · Unclassified central Mexican (earlier linked to early Nahua/Chichimeca? distinctive not Teotihuacan nor Toltec)
Largest pre-Hispanic city on Mexican highlands by area and most elaborate urban fortification: 12 km² (1,215 ha) city on 500 m-wavy basaltic lava field (malpaís) with 7,500+ patios, 24 ballcourts…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Postclassic (c.1200–1519 CE) Totonac – Aztec contested · Totonac
Quiahuiztlan crowns the dramatic Cerro del Bernal ridge above Villa Rica–La Antigua, north of Veracruz city.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Preclassic – Postclassic (c.300 BCE–1519 CE) continuous; Early Classic–Late Classic peak · Maya (East Coast / Southern Lowland)
Muyil (Chunyaxché, Chan Muuch) is the long-lived lowland Maya city on the karst ridge at the Muyil lagoon inside the Sian Ka'an Biosphere, Quintana Roo (10 m).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Formative Olmec (c.1500–500 BCE); Early–Middle Formative 1500–700 BCE (Olmec apogee 900–500 BCE), Late Formative 500–100 BCE, Epiclassic 500–900 CE · Olmec (Gulf Coast style) → Highland central Mexican Formative (Tlatilco–Olmec) → Late Formative Morelos
Olmec Highland hill-carved ceremonial terraces (c.1500–500 BCE) with 9 Olmec relief panels outside Gulf heartland (Grove).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Epiclassic (c.500–900 CE); Classic 500–650 CE, Epiclassic fortified 700–900 CE · Northern frontier Chalchihuites–Tunal–Bajío (Mesoamerican northern periphery; Chichimec interaction)
Bajío frontier mesa pyramid (c.500–900 CE) with ballcourt-terrace and copper bells — INAH Cóporo Tunal outpost.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Epiclassic (c.300–900 CE) Bajío – El Bajío Tradition · Bajío (Tierra Blanca) tradition
Peralta (Tierra Blanca) dominates the Bajío wetlands of southern Guanajuato at 1,710 m as the largest Epiclassic city of the Bajío (300–900 CE).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic – Epiclassic (c.400–850 CE) Chalchihuites – Coyotlatelco frontier · Chalchihuites – Canutillo / Teuchitlán-related frontier
Alta Vista Chalchihuites in northern Zacatecas is Mesoamerica's far-northern Venus frontier town at 2,190 m on the Tropic of Cancer.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Epiclassic – Postclassic (c.530–1040 CE) Bajío – Otomi–Toltec: Lerma tradition · Lerma – Bajío / Otomi
Cañada de la Virgen in the Laja valley saddle near San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, is a mountaintop Epiclassic observatory-city (530–1040 CE) of the Bajío–Otomi tradition at 1,950 m.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic – Early Postclassic (c.100–900 CE) Western Maya frontier, Tzeltal Popo · Maya (Western Tzeltal – Popo dynasty)
Toniná (Tzeltal Popo, house of stone) dominates the Jataté tributary ridge 13 km east of Ocosingo, Chiapas, at 860 m, forming the most dramatic Maya acropolis: seven stepped terraces climb 71 m above…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic (c.400–900 CE) Usumacinta kingdom · Maya (Usumacinta – Pacal's rival)
Yaxchilan (ancient Pa' Chan, cleft sky) crowns a horseshoe meander of the Usumacinta in Chiapas at 120 m, 35 km by river from Frontera Corozal.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Postclassic (c.1200–1521 CE) Late Postclassic Cozumel–Mayapan league · Maya (East Coast – Cozumel)
San Gervasio (Tantún Cuzamil) is Cozumel island's paramount Late Postclassic pilgrimage capital at 15 m interior, 7 km west of San Miguel, Quintana Roo.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient port
Postclassic (c.1200–1519 CE) East Coast – Mayapan league; Late Classic hamlet antecedents · Maya (East Coast Coastal)
Xcaret (ancient Polé) is the walled Postclassic port-temple town on a Caribbean caleta 5 km south of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, at 8 m.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early Formative 1500–900 BCE (San Lorenzo phase, Olmec apogee 1500–1200) · Olmec (Olmeca, earliest Gulf Olmec capital)
Earliest Olmec capital (1500–900 BCE) on 50 ha artificial plateau (700 m long) raised 50 m above floodplain with surrounding ditch and berm modification of natural hill, controlling Coatzacoalcos…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient village
Late Preclassic – Postclassic (c.300 BCE–1518 CE) Cozumel Maya – Spanish contact · Maya (Coastal East Coast)
El Cedral is Cozumel island's oldest pueblo (Preclassic village Oycib) 17 km south of San Miguel, Quintana Roo, at 10 m.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Classic to Epiclassic Chalchihuites (c.300–900 CE); Classic Suchil 300–500 CE, Alta Vista phase 600–800 CE · Chalchihuites (Suchil–Canutillo–Alta Vista) frontier mining–agricultural with Sierra Madre turquoise
Chalchihuites cinnabar–turquoise mining village (c.300–900 CE) with pyramid and ore roasting pits supplying Pueblo Bonito turquoise.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Preclassic – Classic (c.400 BCE–800 CE) Kaan dynasty predecessor · Maya (Lowland – Kaan/Snake Kingdom capital precursor)
Ichkabal is a vaulted jungle metropolis on the pitted limestone plateau 40 km northwest of Bacalar, Quintana Roo, at 110 m.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Classic to Epiclassic (c.300–900 CE); Classic 300–600 CE, Epiclassic fortified 600–900 CE · Central Veracruz–Puebla highland (Cantona sphere) → Epiclassic Tepeyahualco–Totonac fringe
Cantona-linked lava-field fortress town (c.300–900 CE) with obsidian workshops on Malinche flank (García Cook).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Geoglyph
Late Archaic to Trincheras (Amargosa–Hohokam interface) · Trincheras / Hohokam desert–Tohono O'odham continuity
17 Gran Desierto hill intaglios (300 BCE–1400 CE) on Pinacate cerro islands — Tohono O'odham salt pilgrimage.
