Pyramids were built on nearly every continent on the surface of the planet. No matter where we decide to look, we will find that some of the most ancient civilizations on Earth erected pyramids of different shapes and sizes. The most famous pyramids are probably those at the Giza plateau, near present-day Cairo.
About 4,500 years ago, the Fourth Dynasty king Khufu commissioned the Great Pyramid at Giza. It became Egypt’s tallest pyramid, but height is only one way to compare these monuments. A broad platform can occupy more ground while rising much less steeply; including that platform also changes a volume estimate.
A stone monument can be dated even when its building blocks cannot be radiocarbon dated. Archaeologists use construction context and associated materials to establish a chronology. At the Egyptian pyramids, researchers have examined organic fragments in ancient gypsum mortar. Dating the formation of a rock and dating the monument built from it are different questions.
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Along Brazil’s coast, ancient communities built monuments from a strikingly different material: shells. Known as sambaquis, these mounds combine shells and sediment with traces of daily life, including artifacts, animal remains and human burials.
Brazil’s heritage institute, IPHAN, describes sambaquis with varied forms and uses, including territorial markers, habitation, burial and ceremonies. Coastal examples have been dated to roughly 8,000–2,000 years ago. They preserve a long history of communities shaping the coastal landscape.
The layers within these monuments preserve the story of their growth. Shells, burial areas and artifacts give archaeologists ways to investigate how people used a site and how its role changed over time.
Ancient, massive pyramids were not only present in South America. Mexico, in North America, is home to hundreds of examples of amazing pyramids that were built throughout the course of history. The largest pyramid on the surface of the planet is located in Mexico. Built thousands of years ago near what is now the city of Puebla and now resembling a grass-covered hill lie the remnants of the largest pyramids the world has ever seen; the Great Pyramid of Cholula.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula grew through successive construction stages. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History describes a base approximately 450 meters on each side and identifies it as the pyramid with the greatest surface area in Mesoamerica. Its enormous footprint helps explain the impression it makes in aerial photographs: the monument spreads across the landscape, with successive building stages adding to its bulk.
Some of the most massive pyramids in America were built in Mexico and Central America. In addition to the gigantic pyramid at Cholula, another ancient culture erected a series of mind-boggling pyramids in what is now called the ancient city of Teotihuacan. This ancient city—thought to have been one of the largest ancient metropolises on Earth—is home to three striking pyramids, some of the largest on the continent. As the construction of its pyramids, the entire city and its history are shrouded in mystery.
To date, we still don’t know with complete confidence what ancient culture built the city and its pyramids. We also don’t know the original name of the city. The name we use today to refer to the city—Teotihuacan—was given to pyramid-city by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs. They found the city in ruins and covered in vegetation.
The Aztecs were left stumped by the size of the city and its pyramids and called it Teotihuacan (Teōtīhuacān ), which translates to either “birthplace of the gods,” or “the place where gods were born.”
The size of the ancient city speaks of its importance; it once covered 8 square miles, and experts estimate that between 80 to 90 percent of the total population of the valley resided in Teotihuacan. In addition to the three main pyramids (the Pyramid of the Sun, the Moon, and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl), Teotihuacan is also known for its massive central avenue known as the “Avenue of the Dead” which is 45 meters wide and has a length of 2 kilometers. This avenue connects the most important buildings at Teotihuacan.
In addition to the striking pyramids at Teotihuacan (you can read more about pyramids from the American continent here), the city of El Mirador (the Lookout) in present-day Guatemala is home to another mind-boggling structure, and one of the largest pyramids on the surface of the planet, and one of the largest ever built in America.
The monumental pyramid of La Danta measures around 72 meters (236 ft) in height from the forest floor and consists of an estimated total volume of 2,800,000 cubic meters (9,888,106,68 ft) which means it is one of the largest pyramids on the surface of the planet.
Taking into consideration the large man-made platform where the pyramid stands (approximately 180,000 square meters) then La Danta is one of the most massive ancient structures ever constructed on the surface of the planet.
The earthen monuments of Cahokia offer another way to understand the scale of ancient construction in North America. According to Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the city encompassed about 120 earthen mounds at its peak around 1100. Nearly 80 remain, including 72 within the protected site. These were earthen constructions, rather than stone-built Egyptian pyramids. Monks Mound dominates the surviving landscape. Our guide to pyramids and platform mounds in North America places Cahokia alongside other monumental sites and explains the differences between them.
Back in Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Giza illustrates a different measure of scale: height. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities gives its original height as 146.5 meters and identifies it as the tomb of King Khufu. Its bulk was built from local limestone, while fine limestone casing arrived by ship from Turah. Much of that smooth outer surface is now missing, so photographs of the exposed masonry do not show the monument exactly as its builders finished it.
But long before the Great Pyramid of Giza came to be, other pyramids were erected in Egypt. The first Egyptian pyramid is thought to have been built around 4,700 years ago at the Royal Necropolis of Saqqara. There, according to Egyptologists, Pharaoh Djoser constructed the first Pyramid in Egypt, the Step Pyramid.
Several generations after Djoser, during the reign of King Sneferu, Egypt is thought to have built its next pyramid. This is believed to have been the pyramid of Meidum, which was succeeded by the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid at Dahshur.
Sneferu is regarded as the greatest pyramid builder in the (mainstream) history of Egypt; he built at least three massive pyramids, one of which—the Red Pyramid—is the third largest pyramid in Egypt. In addition, his pyramids are thought to have played a direct role in the development and construction of Khufu’s pyramid at Giza.
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