Olmec Civilization
Cascajal Block
High resolution images of the Cascajal Block, an important artifact with examples of possibly Olmec writing from the Early Formative period.
Trivia Quiz: Olmec Civilization
What do you know about the sophisticated central American culture known as the Olmec? Give this quiz a spin and find out.
La Venta
Important Olmec culture site in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, La Venta was occupied between 1200-400 BC.
The Cascajal Block
The Cascajal Block is a large serpentine block discovered in a gravel quarry in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, which is carved with 62 glyphic signs and appears to be the oldest form of a written language discovered yet in the Americas.
Olmec Civilization (Mesoweb)
Mesoweb's page on the Olmec is excellent, including several pictures of the big snarling baby heads from San Lorenzo.
Olmec Civilization
The Olmec heartland lies in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco, at the narrow part of Mexico west of the Yucatan peninsula and east of Oaxaca.
The Olmec Civilization and the Use of Bitumen
Geoarchaeological research by Carl Wendt and Shan-Tan Lu has identified origin sources of bitumen used by the great Olmec civilization of the tropical lowlands of central America, 3000 years ago. The project, described by Olmec scholar David Grove as a “break-though in source analyzing bitumen in Mesoamerica”, may shed light on the vast trade networks throughout prehistoric North America.
San Lorenzo (Mexico)
The archaeological site of San Lorenzo is an Olmec period site located in the state of Veracruz.
Search for the Lost Cave People
Information on the Xoque, and a few odds and ends from Maya and later Mesoamerican cultures, from Nova.
The New World Figurine Project
The New World Figurine Project is the brainchild of Terry Stocker, who in the mid-1980s began to collect articles--new and classic--on ceramic figurines of North, Central and South America.