in southern mexico, at sites such san lorenzo, laenta, tres zapotes near the gulf coast, and tlatilco and chalcatzingo in the highlan. 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 annncer: 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 have hrd citi rors. obregon: aeologist matthew stirng setutn 1939 tonravel the mystery o these strange works of art, which by then were being called "olmec."

newsreel announcer: and here is our objective: tres zapotes, our source of supplies and ofabor 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 is and und this b-and 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. would me that is calendar sy