Hairy Llama asked about the pyramid of Danta.

Danta however, is the monster. It is 70 to 72 meters high (depending on which side you measure, but we will use 70), with massive platforms to support it. The first basal platform is 600 m x 320 m x 10 , with two other additional platforms and numerous large structures (Pava Group) placed on it. The platforms were designed to sustain the three dominant buildings of the summit of danta, and all were definitely and unequivocally constructed in the Late Preclassic period, truly a monumental effort, and even more poignant when considering that there were hundreds of contemporaneous buildings being constructed during this period of time within El Mirador and all the major surrounding sites (26 major cities, and hundreds of smaller ones). The second platform of Danta measures 200 m x 250 m x 10 m high, and the third measured 150 x 150 m x 26 m, while the center structure of the triad summit measures 60 x 50 x 24 m and the two flanking triad structures measure 25 x 25 x 13 m high.


We can only fit 3.6 of the largest egyptian pyramids inside the area of Danta. (230 m x 230 m= 52,900 square meters). 600 x 320 m = 192,000 square meters (192,000/52,900= 3.6)

The largest Egyptian pyramid is the pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), which measures 230.90 m (756 feet) on a side and is 146.53 m high (482 feet). Using simple geometry for pyramidal volumes (area x height x 1/3), an estimated volume of 2,604,073 cubic meters of stone fill can be calculated for that structure.

Since Danta is a series of truncated platforms, we can calculate a the accumulation of the following volumes:
1st platform: 600 x 320 m x 10 (590 x 310 x 10 m = 1,829,000 cubic meters
2nd platform: 200 m x 250 x 10 (190 x 240 x 10 m=456,000 cubic meters
3rd platform: 150 x 150 m x 26 m (140 x 140 x 26 m= 509,600 cubic meters
Center triad structure: 60 x 50 x 24 m (50 x 40 x 24/3= 16,000 cubic meters
north triad structure : 25 x 25 x 13 / 3 = 2708 cubic meters
south triad structure: 25 x 25 x 13 / 3= 2708 cubic meters
Total cubic meters: 2,816,016.


total comparison then is 2.6 million for Egypt to 2.8 million for Danta. And, that is not counting the numerous massive structures found on the platforms of Danta, such as the 31 m high Pava structure, or the 20 m high west E-group structure, and the 13 m high north building of the pava group.

The caveat in this is that we have not tunneled the structure, thus, we have not determined that the entire elevation is totally artificial. There is the possibility that a natural elevation could be found within the thing, so we can safely say that if it is not the largest pyramid in the world, it is one of the largest.