Mesoamerican architecture, building traditions of the indigenous cultures in parts of Mexico and Central

America before the 16th-century Spanish conquest. For the later tradition, see Latin American
architecture. The idea of constructing temple-pyramids appears to have taken hold early. La Venta, the
center of Olmec culture (c. 800–400 BCE), contains one of the earliest pyramidal structures, a mound of
earth and clay 100 feet (30 meters) high. Mesoamerican pyramids were generally earth mounds faced
with stone. Typically of stepped form, they were topped by a platform or temple that only privileged
community members were allowed to approach. The best-known include the Pyramid of the Sun
(rivaling the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Al-Jīzah) and Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacán, the Castillo at
Chichén Itzá, and largest of all, the 177-foot (54-metre) Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula. The Classic
period (100–900 CE) saw the flourishing of Mayan architecture, in which the corbeled vault made its first
appearance in the Americas. Ceremonial centers in the Maya Lowlands proliferated, as did inscribed and
dated stelae and monuments. Tikal, Uaxactún, Copán, Palenque, and Uxmal all attained their glory in
these centuries. A common feature at these sites is a tlachtli, or ball court. The raised platforms of the
tlachtli were often the architectural center of ancient cities. See also Monte Albán.