🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Peor Es Nada
Late Classic Rio Bec 600–850 CE · Maya (Rio Bec)
Eponymously named ‘Peor Es Nada’ (Worse Is Nothing) by chicleros, located 12 km SE of Xpujil deep in forest.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Mesa Verde Spruce
Late Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) · Local Neolithic
Mesa Verde Spruce in Veracruz, Mexico is a Late Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) temple complex attributed to Local Neolithic culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Pyramid of the Sun
Classic Teotihuacan (100–550 CE) · Teotihuacan
Giant stepped truncated pyramid in Teotihuacan, largest Mesoamerican structure before Spanish, built over cave-tunnel. Avenue of the Dead aligned 15.5° east of north. Faced with tezontle and plaster.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Chacmultún Archaeological Zone
Maya Classic–Postclassic 300 BCE–1500 CE · Maya (Puuc–Chenés)
Red hill palaces 44 m portico, hematite, Puuc-Toltec 600–1000 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Chacmultun
Classic · Maya/Andean
Chacmultun — Puuc Red House vault paintings.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Labná Archaeological Zone
Maya Late Classic 700–1000 CE · Maya (Puuc)
Labná Arch 3 m, 67-room Palace, Puuc 800–1000 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Pyramid of Kukulkán (El Castillo)
Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic (Maya-Toltec) · Maya (Itzá) / Toltec-influenced
Stepped pyramid-temple at Chichén Itzá with 365 steps representing solar year; equinox feathered-serpent shadow (Kukulkán) descends balustrade.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Muyil
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 · Ancient city
Yaxchilan
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 · Ancient village
El Cedral Cozumel
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 · Ancient city
Palenque
Late Classic 226 BCE–800 CE (apogee 615–800 CE Early–Late Classic) · Maya (B'aakal / Palenque dynasty; Western Maya lowlands)
Maya Classic capital of B'aakal on Chiapas foothills with low jungle: Temple of Inscriptions (22 m pyramid with 69-step Hieroglyphic Stair recording dynastic history and Pakal's vault; Pakal the…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Dzibilchaltún
500 BCE–1542 CE (Preclassic through Postclassic to Contact; apogee CIassical 600–950) · Maya (northwestern Yucatán, Dzibilchaltún polity)
Northern Maya lowland megasite spanning 17 km² (largest in Yucatán by area, 8,400 structures, 1,300 vaulted buildings) occupied extraordinarily from Middle Preclassic 500 BCE to Conquest ~1542 CE…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Yaxchilán — Structure 33 Pyramid and Great Plaza (Chiapas, Mexico)
Late Classic Maya (600–900 CE) · Maya (Usumacinta)
Spectacular Classic Maya riverine city-state on Usumacinta south bank (350–800 CE), rival of Piedras Negras, known for lintel carvings of bloodletting.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Oxkintok Archaeological Zone
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…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Río Bec Structure V-N Pyramid (Central Plaza)
Late Classic Maya (Río Bec) · Maya (Río Bec)
Type-site false-tower pyramid Structure V-N at Río Bec — 8 m solid-tower platform pyramid c.650–850 CE anchoring 100-structure Río Bec city.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Cuicuilco Circular 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…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Cantona Norte Acropolis
Classic–Epiclassic 200–1000 CE · Cantona (Olmeca-Xicalanca hybrid)
Northern acropolis of largest pre-Hispanic highland city: 20 terraces, 12 ballcourts and 700 m paved causeways on malpaís.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Los Guachimontones (Teuchitlán Tradition)
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.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
El Palmar — Second Temple Plaza (Jimbal–Palmar)
Late Classic 550–850 CE · Maya (Río Bec–Chenes–Central Petén blend)
Secondary plaza 600 m from hieroglyphic stairway: 15 m pyramid with Wak alliance altar, marsh causeway.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
La Venta Pyramid (Complex C)
Middle Formative Olmec 1000–400 BCE (pyramid c. 1000–600 BCE) · Olmec
Olmec capital La Venta (1000–400 BCE) great pyramid Complex C: 31–33 m high clay mound (150 × 130 m base, volume 100,000 m³), earliest known intentional pyramid in Mesoamerica (1000 BCE) – uniquely…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Dainzú
Late Formative–Early Classic 600 BCE–200 CE · Zapotec (Dainzú phase)
Zapotec ballplayer gallery: 47 helmed player reliefs with trophy heads and jaguar deities on Building A.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Dzibilchaltún — Temple of Seven Dolls Equinox Light
Preclassic to Postclassic (500 BCE–1500 CE) Seven Dolls 700 CE · Maya Northern Lowland (Dzibilchaltún 8300 structures)
Dzibilchaltún excavated by Andrews 1956–, equinox light through temple doors 21 March/Sept, 8300 structures 19 km².
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Manos Rojas
Late Classic Rio Bec 550–830 CE · Maya (Rio Bec)
Rio Bec Group R-16 forest palace east of Becán-Xpujil road: twin non-functional stair towers flanking tripartite temple, interior vaults bear ochre red handprints giving modern name.