Pyramids

Bent Pyramid

Sneferu's experiment in geometry. The angle changes mid-build, evidence of structural concerns mid-construction.

Pyramid Bosnia and Herzegovina

002

Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun

Visočica hill, claimed by Semir Osmanagić to be a 12,000-year-old pyramid. Geologists describe it as a natural flatiron formation.

003

Pyramid United States

Cahokia

Largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. Its 30-metre Monks Mound is the largest earthen pyramid in the Americas.

004

Calakmul

One of the two great Classic Maya superpowers, rival of Tikal. Its central pyramid is among the largest in the Maya world.

005

Pyramid Belize

Caracol

The Caana pyramid is still the tallest building in Belize. Caracol once rivaled Tikal in size and influence.

006

Pyramid Peru

Caral

Oldest known city in the Americas, contemporary with Egypt's pyramid age. No defensive walls and no signs of warfare.

007

El Castillo (Chichén Itzá)

Maya pyramid where, on equinoxes, light and shadow form a serpent descending the staircase. Calendar in stone.

008

Pyramid Guatemala

El Mirador

Preclassic Maya megacity in the Petén jungle. The La Danta complex is by some measures the largest pyramid in the world by volume.

009

Pyramid Sudan

El-Kurru Pyramids

Earliest royal necropolis of the Kushite Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Smaller pyramids than at Meroë, with painted burial chambers below.

010

Pyramid United States

Etowah Mounds

Mississippian platform mounds in Georgia. Less than 10% has been excavated, by deliberate policy.

011

Great Pyramid of Cholula

Largest pyramid by volume ever constructed. Now resembles a hill with a Spanish church on top, by design after the conquest.

012

Great Pyramid of Giza

The last surviving wonder of the ancient world. It is generally understood to have been built as Pharaoh Khufu's tomb and stood as the world's tallest human-made structure for roughly 3,800 years.

013

Pyramid Spain

Güímar Pyramids

Stepped lava-stone platforms in Tenerife. Thor Heyerdahl championed them as ancient; mainstream view holds them as 19th-century field clearance.

014

Pyramid Peru

Huaca de la Luna

Sister site to Huaca del Sol. Painted murals survive on its inner walls, depicting the Moche decapitator god Ai Apaec.

015

Pyramid Peru

Huaca del Sol

Adobe brick pyramid of the Moche civilization. Spanish colonists diverted a river to loot it; half the structure is gone.

016

Pyramid China

Maoling Mausoleum

Largest of the Han imperial pyramids, built for Emperor Wu over 53 years. A truncated earthen pyramid 46 metres tall.

017

Pyramid Sudan

Nuri Pyramids

Royal necropolis of Kush, including the tomb of Taharqa. Mostly buried in sand and partially flooded.

018

Pyramid Italy

Pyramid of Cestius

Roman magistrate's tomb in the form of a steep pyramid, built during a brief Egyptomania. Still standing in the wall of Rome.

019

Pyramid of Djedefre (Abu Rawash)

Egypt's northernmost pyramid, on a hill 8 km north of Giza. Heavily quarried in Roman times; only the foundation remains.

020

Pyramid Greece

Pyramid of Hellinikon

Small limestone pyramid in the Argolid. Function and date contested, possibly a watchtower, possibly far older than classical Greece.

021

Pyramid of Khafre

Second pyramid at Giza, still bearing remnants of its original limestone casing at the apex. Guardian of the Sphinx.

022

Pyramid of Meidum

A collapsed tower-pyramid in the desert south of Cairo. Begun for Huni, finished by Sneferu, partially failed in antiquity.

023

Pyramid of Menkaure

Smallest of the three Giza pyramids, originally clad in red Aswan granite. Damaged in a 12th-century attempt to dismantle it.

024

Pyramid of Pepi II

Last major pyramid of the Old Kingdom. After Pepi II's 90+ year reign, Egypt slid into the First Intermediate Period.

025

Pyramid of Teti

First pyramid of the Sixth Dynasty. Heavily damaged on the outside but burial chamber walls covered in Pyramid Texts.

026

Pyramid of the Magician (Uxmal)

Oval-based Puuc-style pyramid. Legend claims it was built in a single night by a dwarf hatched from an egg.

027

Pyramid of the Moon

Northern terminus of Teotihuacan's Avenue of the Dead. Built in seven overlapping phases, each burying the last.

028

Pyramid of Unas

First pyramid to contain Pyramid Texts on its inner walls — the oldest religious writings in the world.

029

Pyramid of Userkaf

Eroded pyramid at Saqqara, founder of the Fifth Dynasty. Now resembles a tall mound.

030

Pyramid Sudan

Pyramids of Meroë

Steep-sided Nubian pyramids of the Kushite kings. Smaller than Egyptian counterparts, but more numerous, with over 200 surviving.

031

Queens’ Pyramids of Khufu

Three small subsidiary pyramids on the eastern side of the Great Pyramid (G1-a, G1-b, G1-c). Built for queens Hetepheres I, Meritites I, and Henutsen.

032

Queens’ Pyramids of Menkaure

Three subsidiary pyramids south of Menkaure (G3-a, G3-b, G3-c), only partially completed. Burial places of his consorts.

033

Red Pyramid

First true smooth-sided pyramid. Sneferu's third attempt and the prototype for Giza.

034

Step Pyramid of Djoser

The earliest colossal stone monument in Egypt, designed by Imhotep. Six stacked mastabas marking the genesis of pyramid building.

035

Temple of the Inscriptions (Palenque)

Funerary pyramid of K'inich Janaab' Pakal, sealed for 1,300 years until Alberto Ruz Lhuillier opened the crypt in 1952.

036

Pyramid Guatemala

Tikal Temple I

Funerary pyramid of king Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, facing Temple II across the Great Plaza of Tikal.