Smithsonian

Snapshot: Tikal

This temple, constructed between A.D. 250 and 300, is the oldest pyramid at Tikal influenced by the talud-tablero architectural style, a common pre-Columbian pyramid style that came from the ancient city of Teotihuacán in modern-day Mexico. (A platform, the tablero, rests on top of a stone slope, the talud.) Two archaeologists from Penn dubbed this group of 33 pyramids the "Lost World," or "Mundo Perdido" in Spanish, after the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel.

The "Lost World"

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Photos from: "Snapshot: Tikal" »