Olmec heartland Olmec Metropolitan Zone. The major heartland sites are: Smaller sites include: Important heartland finds not associated with any archaeological site include: Olmec heartland The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest. It is today, as it was during the height of the Olmec civilization, a tropical lowland forest environment, crossed by meandering rivers. Most researchers consider the Olmec heartland to be the home of the Olmec culture which
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