Olmec
Mexico's mother culture, colossal stone heads
The Rubber People
a lost civilization surfaces in 1862 — and rewrites the history of the Americas
1862 CE + geographic setting
San Lorenzo
the first great center in the Americas, built on an artificial plateau above the swamps
~1200–900 BCE
Stone Kings
seventeen colossal portraits carved from boulders that had to cross fifty miles of jungle
~1200–400 BCE
Jaguars, Blood, and Rubber
Olmec religion — were-jaguars, bloodletting, and the world's first rubber ballgame
~1500–400 BCE
The Jade Highway
trade networks stretching 600 miles for jade, obsidian, magnetite, and chocolate
~1100–400 BCE
La Venta
the second capital on a swamp island — pyramids, buried jaguar mosaics, and offerings never meant to be seen
~900–400 BCE
Words and Numbers
the Cascajal Block, the Long Count calendar, and the independent invention of zero
~900–31 BCE
Mother Culture or Sister Culture?
the great debate — and how Olmec innovations became the foundation of all Mesoamerica
~400 BCE–legacy