Great Pyramid (Complex C)

18.1033°N, 94.0417°W.

The Great Pyramid of La Venta, also designated Complex C, stands in the Olmec heartland of Tabasco, Mexico, and is one of the earliest large pyramidal structures in Mesoamerica — built circa 1000 to 400 BCE. The pyramid rises about 34 metres above the surrounding plain in a fluted, conical profile of compacted clay and earth, with no surviving stone facing. Some interpretations link the unusual rounded shape to the volcanic peaks of the Tuxtla Mountains 90 km to the west, the source of the basalt used for the four colossal Olmec heads found at La Venta. The site was systematically excavated by Matthew Stirling and Philip Drucker between 1942 and 1955. Beneath the pyramid's plaza, the team uncovered massive serpentine pavements depicting jaguar masks, deliberately buried during construction.

The Great Pyramid is one of the oldest pyramids in the Americas, built of mounded earth by people who carried basalt heads ninety kilometres on rollers.