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
Proto-Mayan language Wastek to modern Wastek it can be seen that they were originally clusters of and a rounded vowel followed by a glide. For example the word for "vulture" which in modern Wastek is pronounced was written <nowiki><cuyx></nowiki> in colonial Wastek and pronounced . The Yucatecan languages have all shifted Proto-Mayan into in wordfinal position. Several languages particularly Cholan and Yucatecan have changed short into . All Cholan languages have changed long proto-Mayan vowels and into and respectively. Vowel length distinction has been lost in Q'anjob'alan-Chujean (except for Mocho' and Akateko), Kaqchikel and Cholan. Some languages have reduced the vowel length