The most common form of sanctuary in Mesoamerica is the temple-pyramid-plaza, that is, the peculiar combination of an elevated foundation, almost always artificially built, with a temple on the upper platform. Usually adjoining this unit at the base of the access staircase is a series of open spaces (plaza, esplanade, altar platform). This basic combination was perpetuated for over twenty-five centuries, with several constants that gave it relative coherence within an extremely varied panorama and allowed it to be integrated into larger and more complex architectural clusters.

Structures

The embryonic form of this temple combination can be found in the principal mounds built from compressed soil or from adobe (sun-dried brick) by the Olmec in areas around the Gulf of Mexico, such as San Lorenzo (in the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz) and La Venta (in Tabasco) between 1200 and 900 BCE. Associated with a thrust toward monumentality...