Olmec religion Olmec religion The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernatural in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian era Mesoamericans cultures. The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmecs, developed on present-day Mexico southern Gulf Coast in the centuries before 1200 BCE. The culture lasted until roughly 400 BCE, at which time their center of La Venta lay abandoned. The Olmec culture is often considered a "mother culture" to later Mesoamerican cultures. There is no surviving direct account of the Olmec's religious beliefs,
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