Olmec colossal heads the monuments with ropes. Two heads from San Lorenzo have traces of niches that are characteristic of monumental Olmec thrones and so were definitely reworked from earlier monuments. Seventeen confirmed examples are known. An additional monument, at Takalik Abaj in Guatemala, is a throne that may have been carved from a colossal head. This is the only known example outside of the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Possible fragments of additional colossal heads have been recovered at San Lorenzo and at San Fernando in Tabasco. Crude colossal stone heads are also known in the Southern Maya area
Olmec colossal heads heads are the earliest known stone monuments from the site. The discovery of one of the Tres Zapotes heads in the nineteenth century led to the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture, carried out by Matthew Stirling in 1938. Tres Zapotes Monument A (also known as Tres Zapotes Colossal Head 1) was the first colossal head to be found, discovered by accident in the middle of the nineteenth century, to the north of the modern village of Tres Zapotes. After its discovery it remained half-buried until it was excavated by Matthew Stirling in 1939. At some point it was moved