Mesoamerica: Did you mean...?

El Tajin is located near the coast of eastern Mexico and was an important Mesoamerican centre which flourished between 900 and 1100 CE. A part of the Veracruz culture, the city's architecture also displays both Maya and Oaxacan influences...

Wupatki or Wupatki National Monument is an Ancestral Puebloan site that contains over 800 ancient ruins. It is situated in the north-central region of the US state of Arizona and is approximately 50 km (31 miles) northeast of the present-day...

This map illustrates the rise and extent of the Olmec civilization, which flourished from around 1200 to 400 BCE (the earliest Olmec finds near the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán sites, date back to c.1600) in the present-day Gulf Coast in the...

A basalt colossal head from the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica. Provenance: Veracruz, Mexico, 1200-900 BCE. The significance of the heads is disputed but as no two heads are alike and each headdress has distinctive designs they may represent...

One of the goals of the ball court at the Maya-Toltec city of Chichen Itza. The objective of the ball game, popular across Mesoamerica, was to strike a rubber ball through the hoop using any part of the body except the hands.

The ball court of the Mayan city of Copan. The game was popular across Mesoamerica and the objective was to put a rubber ball through a hoop placed on the side walls.

A colossal basalt statue of Coatlicue ('Serpent Skirt'), the Aztec mother-earth goddess and mother of Huitzilopochtli. The goddess is represented with a severed head replaced by two snake heads, wearing a necklace of severed hands and human...

A map showing the principal settlements of the Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica (modern-day Mexico) which flourished from c. 1200-300 BCE.

The Classic Period ball court of Monte Alban (150-650 CE). The ball game was popular across Mesoamerica and the objective was to put a rubber ball through a hoop placed high on each wall. Any part of the body could be used except the hands.

A diagram of the sacred precinct at Tollan (Tula), the capital of the Toltec civilization (10-12th century CE) in Mesoamerica. The site includes two step pyramids, colonnades, a palace structure and two ball-courts.