Olmec colossal heads by Matthew Stirling in 1938 spurred the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture. Seventeen confirmed examples are known from four sites within the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Most colossal heads were sculpted from spherical boulders but two from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán were re-carved from massive stone thrones. 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 from outside the Olmec heartland. Dating the monuments remains difficult because of the movement of many from their original contexts prior to archaeological
Fingerprints of the Gods is based on the idea that mainstream interpretations of archaeological evidence are flawed or incomplete. The book was followed by Magicians of the Gods, which became a New York Times best-seller. Hancock argues for a civilisation centred on Antarctica (which lay farther from the South Pole than today) and which supposedly left evidence (the "fingerprints" of the title) in Ancient Egypt and American civilisations such as the Olmec, Aztec and Maya. Hancock discusses: Hancock suggests that in 10,450 BC, a major pole shift took place, before which Antarctica lay farther from the South Pole than today, and after which it