🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Ventarrón Archaeological Complex
Initial Period 2500–500 BCE · Early coastal Formative
Deer-net mural 2000 BCE, oldest in Americas.
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex
Early Horizon–Early Intermediate 250–200 BCE (Initial Late Chavín to Wari interstice, Casma-Sechín tradition) · Casma–Sechín / Pampas ( north-central desert, precedent to Moche for Casma valley, not Inca)
Oldest solar observatory in Americas (250–200 BCE): 13 evenly spaced 2–5 m towers on 300 m ridge crest marking annual solar horizon from two enclosed observation pavilions (western fortress hill and…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Emerald Mound
Plaquemine Mississippian Emerald phase 1250–1600 CE · Plaquemine (Natchez)
Second-largest mound in N America, 10.7 m terraced pyramid, 1250–1600 CE.
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Acoma Pueblo (Sky City)
Pueblo III–present 1150 CE–present · Acoma (Keresan, ancestors Ancestral Puebloan/Zuni lineage)
Oldest continuously inhabited community in North America (since 1150 CE, oral history to 1100).
1
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Fort Ancient Earthworks
Hopewell 1–450 CE · Hopewell tradition
Largest hilltop enclosure: 40 ha with 67 gateways, Hopewell 1–450 CE, UNESCO 2023.
🇨🇴 Colombia · Archaeological wonder
San Agustín Archaeological Park (Huila – Colombian Massif (Magdalena watershed))
Regional Classic 1–900 CE (Early 1–300, Middle 300–800, Late 800–900) · Agustinian (San Agustín culture, undetermined linguistic affiliation, Colombian massif)
Largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in Latin America: 500+ monumental tombs, volcanic tuff statues (5.5 m ‘Double of San Agustín’ double-figure, Eagle devouring snakes),…
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Cliff Palace
Pueblo III 1190–1280 CE (Ancestral Puebloan florescence) · Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi, Pueblo III)
Largest cliff dwelling in North America: 150 rooms, 23 kivas, 128–150 inhabitants in alcove 88 m deep, 27 m high below mesa top, with coursed sandstone masonry, tower structures and painted plaster,…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Megalith
Gate of the Sun
The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun (in older literature simply called "(great) monolithic Gateway of Ak-kapana"), is a monolithic gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco, built by…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Monks Mound
Mississippian 900–1200 CE (peak 1050–1200) · Mississippian (Cahokia)
Largest earthen structure in the Americas north of Mexico and centerpiece of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Poverty Point (Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point)
Late Archaic 1700–1100 BCE (peak 1500–1200 BCE) · Poverty Point culture
Late Archaic earthwork complex (1700–1100 BCE) with six concentric C-shaped ridges (1.2 km outer diameter) and six mounds, including 22 m-high Mound A – one of largest Archaic earthworks in North…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
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…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Sloan Site
Paleo-Indian Dalton 8500–7900 BCE · Paleo-Indian Dalton (Sloan Dalton)
8,500 BCE Paleo-Indian cemetery, oldest in the Americas, 475 burials.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Watson Brake
Middle–Late Archaic (3500–2800 BCE) · Middle Archaic Watson Brake culture
Oldest North American mound complex: 11 mounds 5400 BP enclosing oval plaza, hunter-gatherer monument without agriculture.