The site is important for a number of reasons. First, while it was definitely inhabited by Mixe-Zoque speakers, it has strong ties to the Olmecs, but it is not known what exactly these ties were. Some theories state that the population was genetically related to the Olmecs, while others suppose that they were dominated by the Olmecs initially but then eventually broke away. There have been significant finds here such as the oldest Mesoamerican Long Count calendar with the date of 36 BCE on a monument, as well as a pottery shard with the oldest instance of writing system yet discovered.