Unretouched Photograph of the Block's Front View

On the flat surface is where the signs have been carved. The glyphs (well, researchers use the term 'signs' avoiding the culturally-laden 'glyph' designation) consist of 62 shapes cut into the block, or rather 28 different shapes, some of which are repeated for a total of 62 notations.

This photo courtesy Stephen Houston appeared in Science on September 15, 2006, vol 313:1611.

• More information on The Cascajal Block
• Study Guide to the Olmec Civilization
• Rodriguez Martinez, Ma. del et al. 2006. Oldest writing in the New World. Science 313:1610-1614.