Quite recently I've read a book about the culture of Maya - an ancient tribe of South America, and learnt many fascinating facts about their art and traditions. Their civilization developed in absolutely unique circumstances, isolated from the rest of the world by impassable oceans. They didn't invent a wheel, neither they domesticated any draft animals, however that didn't keep them from building pyramids just as complex and majestic as Egyptian ones in Gisa valley. They worshipped Gods just as terrible and ravenous as Egyptian ones and practiced slavery just as much, plus they also learnt much about astronomy of Solar system and invented a calendar. Only in contrast to Egyptians they used their calendar not only for determining periodics of natural phenomena like Nile floods and desert hot wind seasons, but also for... building new houses and pyramids.
Motivated by their religious believes they built a new big stone palace annually, and although they didn't actually dwell in