Largest Pyramid in the world?

I was watching a show on the national geographic channel or maybe it was discovery times, It was about pyramid and buliders around the world. It was a short 1 hour show that went though and talked about who built them and how ect..

At the end of the episode they are walking though the jungles of south america up a steep incline covered in dirt and foliage. They talk about how they are walking on the worlds largest pyramid and nobody even knows its there.

They finally reach the top and you can clearly see its a man made object, it has a flat top of carved stone. I belive they said it was over 2,000 feet high. Then they showed a arial view and the size was just amazing!

Another part of the show talked about one of the explorers who came looking for lost citys found them and bought one location because of an altar in the city. I belive he bought the city for like $30 or something..

I also found intresting that one of the pyramids in south america was actually 3 pyramids on top of each other as they excvated finding complete untouched temples inside! thats really amazing!

Did anyone catch this show or could tell me more about that largest pyramid in south america? Im wondering if there is any news on if they started digging and uncovering this giant. What kinda stuff they found ect..

The temples and pyramids in South and Central America were built that way by successive rulers, one on top of the other. I recentely went to Belize to the Xanantunich site and it was amazing. Something I have always wanted to see. I think it was almost 200 feet up and the view and the feeling on top were awe inspiring. That was number one on the list of these pyramids i hope to visit in my life. Visit one if you get the chance. THe carvings on the side were incredible, and alot of the local folklore ties them to what they called gods but we call UFO's. Good reading and research if you really want to know.

How old is the pyramid? Newgrange is 5000+ years.......

the worlds largest pyramid lies in china

www.trilobia.com...

Wow, those pyramids in China are amazing! They completely restructured the Earth to make!

The biggest ones I could find in South America seem to be in Guatemala, at the "El Mirador" site, which probably looked something like this:



The tallest pyramid here, "La Danta" was about 230 feet high. source

Compared to the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt, which was about 450 feet high. source



If, indeed there is a larger pyramid in South America, I couldn't find it. The pyramids linked to by timoothy in China usually don't exceed about 200 feet, with the one giant exception in the Empress' tomb, which is nearly 3000 feet tall! It looks like a friggin' mountain!

Link to some GREAT pictures in and around the "El Mirador" site

Some very cool pictures of the largest pyramid in Mexico


I would like to see if anybody else knows of another "monster" pyramid in South America, similar to those in China. It would fit the decription given by superfresh from NG, and is certainly possible from what we see in China. Anybody?

Originally posted by supafresh
Did anyone catch this show or could tell me more about that largest pyramid in south america? Im wondering if there is any news on if they started digging and uncovering this giant. What kinda stuff they found ect..

I've watched that show but i cannot remember off hand where exactly the pyramid was.I'll ask my wife,maybe she remembers
I think that they were saying that they don't have yet the resources to start digging.There was no definitive answer.I should've taped that show

I saw the show, It was in Chilie wasn't it? Hmm.. I'll have to look again as well.
You should U2U Byrd. Byrd is the one to be asking on this matter. Remember Byrd is the word!

[edit on 1-6-2005 by Xayden]

Very tall pyramids you've linked to, amazing. All we need is the name or area of the 2000 feet high one and we can get researching. Maybe it'll repeat, can you remember what the show was called?

it was called Pyramids,Mummies and tombs


tlc.discovery.com...


looking into the site now.. ill try to dig up as much as i can.


Q: On the show last night, there were two things that puzzled our family: The first was the last Nubian pyramid. You showed us the tomb and said they stopped building after this one, but you never explained why. Also, are they going to excavate the large pyramid at El Tigre any time soon? I realize that all this would cost a tremendous amount of money and time, but it would be fascinating to know more about this site.
— Sandi Mckenna

A: The Nubian civilization gave way to Christianity. That's why they stopped building pyramids.
The archaeologist who showed us the huge pyramid hopes to excavate it in a few years.


So its in El Tigre and they will start excavation in a few years


[edit on 1-6-2005 by supafresh]

[edit on 1-6-2005 by supafresh]

From a MSN group i found

A living mountain, the home of the gods to the ancient Maya. The Tigre Complex at El Mirador is considered to be the most massive ancient structure in Mesoamerica, with a base equal of six football fields. It dates from the Late Preclassic Period, most likely from around 100 BC. Like the nearly equally large Danta Complex at El Mirador, the main pyramid rises from a massive terrace base to a high plaza, topped with a triad-group of pyramid temples, which are hallmarks of Preclassic and Early Classic Period Maya cities.

Yes thats a pyramid under all that jungle!

More info i found from www.gonomad.com...

Covering 10 sq. miles, El Mirador is as large as the famous Mayan city of Tikal and has the greatest concentration of civic and religious buildings in the Mayan world. The Danta Pyramid, rising 230 feet, is the tallest structure the Maya ever built, and both it and the slightly smaller Tigre Pyramid dwarf even the largest structures at Tikal.

The city thrived as a trading center from about 200 BC to 150 AD. With a population as high as 80,000 it was one of the first large cities in North America and archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a civilization so advanced that many long held beliefs about the Maya have been shattered.

While archaeologists and historians regard El Mirador as one of the most important and mysterious Mayan cities, the truth is, since it lies forlornly under the jungle, it is really only of minor interest to the average person. I came here to experience the rainforest and buried or not, the city was only secondary.

[edit on 1-6-2005 by supafresh]

I saw that one, actually...

Originally posted by supafresh
At the end of the episode they are walking though the jungles of south america up a steep incline covered in dirt and foliage. They talk about how they are walking on the worlds largest pyramid and nobody even knows its there.

They finally reach the top and you can clearly see its a man made object, it has a flat top of carved stone. I belive they said it was over 2,000 feet high. Then they showed a arial view and the size was just amazing!

I think that it's El Tigre (as someone else has mentioned) and there wasn't any way that the incline they walked up was 2,000 feet. The former World Trade Centers were about 1300 feet high -- so at 2,000 feet they would have had to be almost twice the height of the World Trade Center. 2,000 feet is well within commercial airspace, in fact.

The pyramid wans't that high.

They did a flyover of things that they said were also pyramids (jungle-covered) but I'll have to admit some real skepticism here. You do get natural formations that look like pyramids (particularly if you heap jungle vegetation over them) and these are formed when a hard layer of rock lies over softer rock/ash/marl.

You see them all over Big Bend here in Texas, in fact. They're cone-shaped and there's a hard lava capstone.

It was a neat program but I was rather skeptical of the bits at the end.

here's alist of all pyramids in the world with pictures and comments

www.crystalinks.com...

hmm try this one

www.crystalinks.com...

Do you think you could get that arial view?

I thought the great pyramid of Cholula was the largest in the world...

This link would seem to confirm that: en.wikipedia.org...

www.gonomad.com...


Confirms that the el tigre pyramid is the largest at 230feet.

Covering 10 sq. miles, El Mirador is as large as the famous Mayan city of Tikal and has the greatest concentration of civic and religious buildings in the Mayan world. The Danta Pyramid, rising 230 feet, is the tallest structure the Maya ever built, and both it and the slightly smaller Tigre Pyramid dwarf even the largest structures at Tikal.

The city thrived as a trading center from about 200 BC to 150 AD. With a population as high as 80,000 it was one of the first large cities in North America and archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a civilization so advanced that many long held beliefs about the Maya have been shattered.

egypt's pyramids are bigger

Khufu or Cheop's Great Pyramid is 756 feet (241 meters) square in plan, and 481 feet (153 meters) high. The angle of inclination of the triangular faces is about 51.5 degrees. The square of its height equals the area of each triangular face, as determined by Herodotus in 450 B. C. The base of the pyramid covers about 13 acres.

AND THESE

Chinese Pyramids

Over one hundred pyramids were discovered by two Australian traders on the plains of Qin Chuan in Central China at the turn of the century. The custodian of a local monastery, when asked about them, said that according to records 5,000 years old housed in the monastery, the pyramids were themselves very old. The traders were told that the pyramids belonged to an age when the "old emperors" reigned in China and that the emperors always stressed the fact that they did not originate on Earth. Rather, they were the descendants of the "sons of heaven, who roared down to this planet on their fiery metallic dragons". Legends from the area mention "ugly, yellowish, and skinny beings with big heads that came down from heaven a long, long time ago"! Most of the pyramids are between 100 and 300 feet, but the awesome Great White Pyramid is 1000 feet high with a 1500 foot base.
The construction of the Chinese Pyramids is similar to Teotihuacán. They are made of piled earth with stepped sides, rather than the spectacular engineering of Khufu, and the tops of most of them are flattened.

The pogram was just on discovery times a few minutes ago. It should be airing again in a few hours. And your right it is El Tigre, guatamala. The tallest one there is 230 feet and is completly covered in jungle

Here is a link:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4526872.stm

I believe this must be the pyramid that they have yet to start restoring. I just recently saw the show on the Discovery Times channel. I think it was Bill Nye the sciense guy that went around to the sites and narrated the hour. I never heard the height but they did say the base was 1/2 mile on each side. It will be interesting to see more as they continue to work the site. Makes sense for the scientists to check out inside before you restore the outside and show everyone where the pyramid is for all to see and pillage. IF THE RENDITION IS OF THE SAME PYRAMID. Mike