The Mayan people generally built their pyramids with stone blocks, sealed together using lime mortar, according to Minnesota State University. Some pyramids, such as Teotihuacan, also known as the Pyramid of the Sun, were faced with adobe bricks covered with cobblestones or a stucco coating.
Mayan pyramids usually have steep staircases built into the sides. Some pyramids served religious purposes, when priests climbed the stairs to make sacrifices. Others were seen as too sacred to touch, and their staircases were intentionally constructed to be too steep to climb.
Mayan pyramids often included internal caves and passageways. Archaeologists digging at the Tazumal pyramid in El Salvador found evidence of burials and ceramics displaying a number of cultural influences, says Roger Atwood, Ph.D.
