中美洲建筑(Mesoamerican architecture)
墨西哥与中美洲在16世纪西班牙征服前本土文化的建筑传统。建造寺庙型式的金字塔的观念似乎很早就占主导地位。奥尔梅克文化（约自西元前800年至西元前400年）的中心，拉文塔（La Venta），其中就有最早期的金字塔结构建筑，是个高100英尺（30公尺）、由土壤与陶制物构成的土墩。中美洲的金字塔一般是外表覆盖石块的土墩。它们通常采用典型的阶梯外形，在顶端搭建只限於特淮的社群成员方可接近的平台或庙宇。此类最有名的建筑包括：太阳金字塔（可以和吉萨的古夫大金字塔相匹敌）、在特奥蒂瓦坎（Teotihuacan）的月亮金字塔、在奇琴伊察的城堡，以及这些金字塔中最钜大者：在恰路拉（Cholula）、高达177英尺（55公尺）的羽蛇神（Quetzalcoatl）金字塔。在古典时期（100年至900年），可以发现马雅建盛的兴盛，以托架支撑的拱顶首度在美洲出现。在马雅低地（Maya Lowlands）区，四处扩建了举行仪式的中心，留下日期的铭刻石碑与纪念碑也同样不少。蒂卡尔（Tikal）、瓦夏克通（Uaxactun）、科班（Copán）、帕伦克（Palenque）和乌斯马尔（Uxmal）都经历数世纪而仍维持其壮观的风貌。在这些遗址中有一共通的特性，就是特拉其力（tlachtli），或称球场。它们加高的平台通常古代城市的建筑中心。亦请参阅Monte Alban。
English version：
Mesoamerican architecture
Building traditions of the indigenous cultures in parts of Mexico and Central America before the 16th-century Spanish conquest. The idea of constructing temple-pyramids appears to have taken hold early. La Venta, the center of Olmec culture c. 800-400 BC, contains one of the earliest pyramidal structures, a mound of earth and clay 100 ft (30 m) high. Mesoamerican pyramids were generally earth mounds faced with stone. Typically of stepped form, they were topped by a platform or temple which only privileged community members were allowed to approach. The best-known include the Pyramid of the Sun (rivaling the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza) and Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacán, the Castillo at Chichén Itzá, and largest of all, the 177-ft (54-m) Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula. The Classic period (AD 100-900) 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. Their raised platforms were often the architectural center of ancient cities. See also Monte Albán.