Mesoamerican pyramids
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Most Ancient Mesoamerican civilisations built pyramid-shaped structures. These were also usually step pyramids, with temples on top – more akin to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia than to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt. The Mesoamerican region's largest pyramid by volume – indeed, the largest in the world by volume – is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla.
Aztecs
The Aztecs, a people with a rich mythology and cultural heritage, dominated central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Their capital was Tenochtitlan on the shore of Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City. They were linguistically related to, and culturally in awe of, the Toltecs, whose building styles they adopted and adapted.
Maya
The Maya are a people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador) with some 3,000 years of history. Archaeological evidence shows the Maya started to build ceremonial architecture approximately 3,000 years ago. The earliest monuments consisted of simple burial mounds, the precursors to the spectacular stepped pyramids from the Terminal Pre-classic period and beyond. These pyramids relied on intricate carved stone in order to create a stair-stepped design. Many of these structures featured a top platform upon which a smaller dedicatory building was constructed, associated with a particular Maya deity. Maya pyramid-like structures were also erected to serve as a place of interment for powerful rulers. Maya pyramidic structures occur in a great variety of forms and functions, bounded by regional and period differences.Tarascans
The Tarascans are a Native American people centred in the state of Michoacán. Pre-Hispanic Tarascan architecture is noted for step-pyramids in the shape of the letter "T", known as yácatas.Teotihuacanos
The Teotihuacano civilisation, which flourished from around 300 BC to 500 AD, at its greatest extent included most of Mesoamerica. Teotihuacano hegemony was overthrown by the Toltecs some time after that.Toltecas
The Toltecas dominated much of central Mexico between the 10th and 12th century AD. Their language, Nahuatl, was also spoken by the Aztecs.
Totonacas
The Totonaca people controlled a sizeable portion of the Gulf coast from the 1st century through to the 13th. The best known Totonaca pyramid, in their capital El Tajín, is smaller than those of their neighbours and successors but more intricate.Zapotecas
The Zapotecas were one of the earliest Mesoamerican cultures and held sway over the Oaxaca valley from 900 BC to about AD 1300.See also
External links
- [Pyramids of Mexico] – comprehensive overview
- [PyramidPlan] – instructions for building a scale-model Aztec temple
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