In 1862, plantation farmers in Veracruz, Mexico, thought they had found, an iron kettle buried. Thinking the kettle might have gold, they dug and dug… until they revealed a giant Olmec head.

The art and religion of the civilization were so powerful that the Olmec is well known as the ‘mother culture’ of Mesoamerica (middle America). The traditions of the Mayas and Aztecs are based on Olmec examples.

San Lorenzo is on a plateau in the hot area of the Bay of Campeche.

The Olmec civilization started between 1500 B.C. and 400 B.C., the Olmec civilization lived along the gulf coast of southern Mexico. They were the first civilization in the Americas with a complex society. They are considered the ‘mother’ of Mesoamerican cultures.