The Egyptian and Mayan Pyramids

Paper Summary:

This paper examines and compares the pyramids of Egypt and those of the ancient Mayan culture, found in Mexico and parts of Central America. In an attempt to explain why these architectural legacies share so many striking similarities in spite of the thousands of years and geographical distances that separated the cultures that produced them, the paper considers what was important to the two civilizations and what it was that they were they trying to accomplish by building these complex and enormous structures.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Egyptians
The Mayans
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Half a world and three thousand years apart, two ancient civilizations built a series of remarkably similar structures shaped like and known as pyramids - or The Pyramids to us latecomers. The Egyptians built theirs in the twenty-sixth century b.c., or earlier, a short distance inland from the west bank of the Nile River; to date, eighty are known to exist. Built between 250 and 800 a.d., the dozen or so Mayan pyramids excavated thus far are located in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala and elsewhere in Central America. The biggest, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, at Giza in Egypt, was originally built to a height of 481 feet (though the top thirty feet have simply disintegrated over time) and was for more than four thousand years the largest man-made structure ever assembled. The Mayan pyramids are somewhat smaller, but imposing nonetheless."

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