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(PLEASE NOTE: CLICK ON A THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE A PICTURE) Some of the most dramatic and striking pyramids in the world can be found in the jungles of Central America including sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.
Step pyramids were built by an Indo-American civilization known as the Maya. there was a step pyramid at the centre of every Mayan city. In 1839-40 U.S. explorer John Lloyd Stevens (1805-1852) and his artist companion Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854) traveled to Central America to look for the rumoured lost cities. Catherwood's engravings (published in 1844) were the first accurate representation seen by the West of Mayan cities and civilization.
Most people prior to Stevens and Catherwood's discoveries believed that the Mayan pyramids were built by the Egyptians. Steven's was the first person to insist that the Mayan pyramids were built the Native Americans and that they evolved independently of those built by the Egyptians. Many years later in 1952 Mexican archeologist Alberto Ruz L'Huiller was excavating the Mayan city of Palenque when he discovered a burial chamber in the centre of a Mayan pyramid. It took more than a decade to translate the writing in the tomb but eventually it was discovered that it was the tomb of Lord Pakal who ruled Palenque for 70 years. The Egyptians had used their pyramids as tombs for their pharoahs and now archeologists finally had proof that the Maya had also used pyramids to bury their rulers. The inscriptions in Lord Pakal's burial chamber also provided the key to unlocking the secrets of the Mayan language and civilization in a similar way that the Rosetta stone had unlocked the secrets of the Ancient Egyptians. The Maya were the only pyramid building civilization in Central America to develop a complex writing system. Tikal is the largest known Mayan city. It was at it's height approximately 1,500 years ago and during this time it was home for at least 40,000 Mayans. Tikal is crowded with pyramids and at the city's heyday they were painted brilliant colours. The most popular colour was blood red. Blood was very important in Mayan society. They believed their gods gave their blood to give life to mankind and they used their pyramids as a kind of public theatre for the performance of blood rituals and sacrifice to the gods. The Mayan king would climb to the summit of the city's most sacred pyramid. He would perform rituals in front of his people re-enacting the gods sacrifice by offering his own blood in order to give life to his people. The pyramid also lifted the king above the people because only royalty and the priests were allowed to climb the steps of the most sacred pyramid.
In Mexico, approximately 25 miles north of Mexico City lies the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The name in Aztec means 'city of the gods'. Around the 13th century the Aztec's discovered the abandoned ruins of Teotihuacan and they believed that the pyramids must have been built by the gods, but who actually built them is still a mystery. The Aztec's were so amazed by the city that they also thought that it must be the place where the gods created the sun and the moon. They named the largest pyramid 'The Pyramid of the Sun'. it is made from sun dried mud bricks and is about 20 storeys high. Unlike the Egyptians and many other cultures the sun god was not the most powerful. The oldest pyramid in Teotihuacan is dedicated to a goddess (her name is not known) associated with nature and creation. The Aztecs named the pyramid nearby 'The Pyramid of the Moon'. A tomb found deep inside the Pyramid of the Moon contained many human remains and animal remains which had been arranged as if they had been ritually sacrificed. Similar remains have been found under most of the pyramids in the city and many archeologists believe that human sacrifices were made at each stage of the construction of the pyramids. It appears the city was a great spiritual centre where the people would come to worship their gods. Each pyramid is dedicated to a different god and they were once brightly painted in shades of red and green. Most of the history of the civilization who had built them is currently lost, however, archeologists are continuing their research.
In Peru, 'the Pyramid of the Sun' was similar in size to the great pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Today, due to souvenir seekers it is only a fraction of it's original size.
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