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narrator: the thousand yearsgo in souern mexico, an unprecedent culture flourished in the jungle nearhe gulf coast. rivers meandering through the hot, tropical lowlands were the region's lifeblood. theswaterwayfor transportion and tra encouraged agriculture. annual floods left deposits of fertile soil, ideal for growing maize, squash and beans. more than two thousand years later, the aztecs called this region "olman," or "rubber country,"

the name of the peoples. who dwelled there in antiquity is lost, but they have become known as olmec. to express their political and religious beliefs, the ancient olmec invented imagery of spellbinding power. they carved monumental sculptures from volcanic rock without metal tools, using hammers and chisels ma ostone. they transported massive blocks of basalt, weighing up to 2tons, across miles of teory thout benefit of the wel. they built the first pyramid in the americas, rising 100 feet an of rehan the half millionubic ft d-pa e they fased delicate, and often deeply expressive,

works of art in ceramic, serpentine and jade. the result was the most sophisticated artistic style yet created in the americas. the style developed throughoutesoamerica, which extends from central meco to present-day costa rica. the most striking olmec achievements have been found in southern mexico, at sites such san loren, la venta, tres zapotes near the gulf coast, and tlatilco and chalcatzingo in the highlands. in the 18th and 19th centuries, finely carved jades from mesoamerica began to appear in museums and private collections. no one knew what to make of them. some were labeled chinese, others maya or aztec. in 1862, farmer's discovery of a he stone head at tres zapotes

triggered speculation that it had be carved by africans who had immigrated the americas. newsreel announcer: pulling it for two hos ov swampland is the last ste of our trip to the spot whe we hope to find the big stone heads of which we ha hrd exciti rumors. obregon: archaeologist matthew stirng setutn 1939 tonravel the mystery o these strange works of art, which by then were being called "olmec." sponsored by the smhsoniainstitut the al raphic s veled thifemari to mexico, launchinthe exvations on the southergulf coast no onenew how old the olmec culture was. many thought it was contemporary or later than tssic maya, w oush from 300 to 9 a.d. newsreel announcer: and here is our objective: tres zapotes, our source of supplies anofabor during theirst t seasons of archalogical work

here in the southern part of the state of veracruz. new speaker: we'd only been working at tres zapotes for about ree weeks and matt decided he wanted to dig out a big stone in front of the largest mound at the site. so he took ten men and went out to dig it up. new speaker: one of the workmen told me of having an encounter with this whole bit of solid stone that was projecting above the ground. stirling pugh: but matt had stubbed his toe on a rock not too far away. and while he was there, he thought he might just as well dig that up too. and much to his surprise, it turned out to be a broken stela with a jaguar ma on the front. stirling: so we excavad this and und this b-and-dot date running across the back of the monument.

we deciphered it and und that icarrie a date of noer 4, 31 b.c. stirli pugh: but at the time, 31 b.c. was the earliest dated monument in the new world. obregon: stirling's reading of the date as 31 b.c. woulme that is calendar system predated the classic maya by some 300 years. stirling pugh: well, this caused a lot of consternation among the mayanists. eric thompson, the famous maya epigrapher, wrote a paper about it. he wouldn't speak to us at meetings. obregon: but mexican artist a scholar miguel carruas and ththpologistlfso casoshar srling's view. stling pugh: it was at that time that alfonso caso announced that he considered the olmec the mother culture of mesoamerica and at that time, that just put the olmec on the map,

because he was the outstanding mexican anthropologist. obregon: in fact, the origins of olmec art turned out to be far older than even covarrubias, caso and stirling imagined. radiocarbon dating at san lorenzand other olmec sis hapushed back the ginning of olmec culture by more than a milleium, to circa 1,200 b.c. newsreel announc: now we're off for the second phase of our exploration. obregon: stirling beganigging at san lorenzo in 1946, with the archaeologist philip drucker. stirling pugh: and sure enough, ere was a big head, a beautifully carved big head, much finer [and] more ndsome thanhe ones at la venta. obregon: stirling proposed that these enigmatic sculptures wereortraits of prominent individuals in olmec society.

mostf the vast site of san lorenzo remains to be explored. new speaker: we now know thathe site cove moran 300 hectares, making it the laest and most complex site in mesoamerica duri the earlyressic orhearlyormati period. obregon: the elite resided on the huge manmade plateau that dominates the site. one house, calle the "red palace," had stone columns and steps and was supplied with war channeled fromeservoirs. ordinary pple may have led in the pm-thatched houses, like some still found there toy. the polation included artisans skilled in specialized crafts. cyphers: we have a lot of evidence for workshop activity here. there are areas where theyorked obdian, green stone and even monuments were worked re.

the olmecs stored previously made stone monuments and then reworked them or recycled them into another shape with another iconogrhy. we found the tenth and newest colossal head at san lorenzo last year. it wasound in the ravine, a ravine called e ca de la hoche, where three other colossal headhave been found. across the top of the headdress, a three-digited hand or claw descends. this insignia probably has something to do with the name of the person represented. each colossal head is a portrait of a ruler from olmec times. eachis very different from all the other faces and the expressions are different. thisne has a very benign expressio the lossal hd anorted to the comnityusm tenochtitla

so now, with the help of the town, 're building a better home for all the sculpture we have housed there. obregon: these portraits are carved of stone in a region where stone is not naturally available. enormous blocks of basalt weighing many tons apiece were carried witut beasts of burden some 60 miles from distant mountains. the magnitude of this task is clear evidence of the ruler's power and authority over a large and efficient labor force. olmec culture at san lorenzo declined around 900 b.c., perhaps because of environmental change, warfare, or competition from other sites. whatever the cause, the demise of san lorenzo cocid wi the rise of another olmec cter, la venta. cated near theulf coast on high ground surrounded in ancient times by swamps and rivers,

la venta floished from about 900 to00 b.c. this hill is actuay a manmade mounta of earth, packed io the shape of pyramid. the pyramid is the focus of a who complex of smallerthen mounds, carefully consucted on a north-south axis to form la venta's political and religious center. excavations in the area to the north of the pyramid, led first by stirling in the '40s and later in the 1950s by philip drucker and robert heizer, revealed a ceremonial courtyard encled by hundreds of basalt columns, each weighing close to one ton. burial mou at the north side of thcourt contained a ba tomb for two high-ranking children. theibos hadisintegrate butheir nants main

buried beneath e layers of clay, each of a different color, and several more layers of adobe blocks, was a mosaic pavement measurin15 by 20 feet. its green serpentine stones form the slid fa of supertural being. the mosaic rested on top of 28 layers of rough stones, more than 1,000 tons worth, bbrought 150 miles from the mountains near the pacific coast. this was aenormous feat, and three such mosaics were found at the site. few feet beath thcereni court, a cache of small, typically olmec figures appeared, with almond-aped eyes and bald, elongated heads. as a mark of beauty or status, the skulls of some individuals were deformed in early cldhood when the bones were stilsoft.