What is the difference between Mayan and Aztec pyramids?

The pyramids of the Aztecs were very similar to those of the Maya. The main difference was that the Aztec would sometimes build more than one temple on the top of a pyramid. Many times new pyramids were built on top of old pyramids. Archeologists have found several more pyramids inside and under existing pyramids.



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The Pyramids in Mexico Mexico is home to some of the most impressive pyramids in the world, built by ancient civilizations like the Aztecs and the Mayans. Though much about them is still shrouded in mystery, historians believe the Mexico pyramids were used for religious or ceremonial purposes.

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Mesoamerican peoples built pyramids from around 1000 B.C. up until the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. (Egyptian pyramids are much older than American ones; the earliest Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, was built in the 27 century BC).

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The Great Pyramid was destroyed along with the rest of the Aztec civilization by the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his army in 1521. Underneath its ruins, the remains of six earlier pyramids were later found, evidence of the constant rebuilding process common to the Mesoamerican pyramids.

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Many of these were depicted in Maya artwork and sometimes took place after the victim was tortured (beaten, scalped, burned, etc.). If the sacrifice happened through heart removal it took place in the courtyard of the temple or summit of the pyramid-temple.

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Maya, Mesoamerican Indians occupying a nearly continuous territory in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and northern Belize.

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The Maya Indians were so short that some scholars called them the pygmies of Central America: the men averaged only five feet two, the women four feet eight.

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