Ancient World
Izapa: Carved Stelae of a Preclassic City on the Pacific Coast
Izapa's carvers created a distinctive narrative style that bridged Olmec traditions and later Maya art.
Region
Americas
Ancient World
Great Pyramid of Cholula: The Largest Pyramid by Volume
Successive builders created the world's largest pyramid by volume, which remained a sacred place through the Spanish conquest to today.
Ancient World
San Bartolo Murals: Early Maya Paintings of Gods and Kings
The discovery revealed that Maya mythology, kingship and writing were well developed in the Late Preclassic period.
Ancient World
Hopewell Culture: Earthworks and Trade Networks of Ancient Ohio
Native American communities built monumental ceremonial earthworks linked by a continent-wide exchange network; eight Ohio sites became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
Ancient World
Teotihuacan: Rise of the City of the Gods in Ancient Mexico
Teotihuacan grew into a planned metropolis of perhaps 100,000 people whose influence reached across Mesoamerica before its centre was burned around AD 550.
Ancient World
Maya Long Count Calendar: Origins of Mesoamerican Timekeeping
Mesoamerican peoples developed a precise count of days from a fixed starting point, later used by the Classic Maya to date thousands of monuments.
Ancient World
Cahuachi: The Adobe Pilgrimage Centre of the Nazca People
Cahuachi served for centuries as the main ritual centre of the Nazca world before being abandoned as a temple site and reused as a cemetery.
Ancient World
Newark Earthworks: Hopewell Geometry and Moon Alignments in Ohio
The surviving Great Circle and Octagon became part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks World Heritage Site in 2023.
Ancient World
Pyramid of the Moon: Teotihuacan's Northern Sacred Monument
Rebuilt seven times, the pyramid became Teotihuacan's second-largest monument and the focus of state rituals involving human and animal sacrifice.
Ancient World
Huacas del Sol y de la Luna: Moche Temples Near Trujillo
The site became the political and religious capital of the southern Moche; Huaca del Sol was later partly destroyed by colonial treasure hunters.
Ancient World
Moche Civilization: Warrior-Priests of Peru's North Coast
The Moche created the first great states of Peru's north coast; their traditions passed to the later Lambayeque (Sicán) and Chimú cultures.
Ancient World
La Mojarra Stela 1: Epi-Olmec Writing and a Warrior King
The stela became the main source for the Isthmian script, prompting a proposed decipherment in 1993 that remains disputed.