Editing Olmecs (section)

===Writing===
{{See also|Cascajal Block}}
The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system. Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date from 650&nbsp;BCE<ref>See Pohl et al. (2002).</ref> and 900&nbsp;BCE<ref>{{cite news |title=Writing May Be Oldest in Western Hemisphere. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/science/15writing.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date= 15 September 2006|access-date=2008-03-30 }}</ref> respectively, preceding the oldest [[Zapotec writing]] found so far, which dates from about 500&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite news |title='Oldest' New World writing found |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5347080.stm |publisher=[[BBC]] |date= 14 September 2006|access-date=2008-03-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Oldest Writing in the New World |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5793/1610|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |access-date=2008-03-30 }}</ref>

The 2002 find at the [[San Andrés (Mesoamerican site)|San Andrés]] site shows a bird, speech scrolls, and glyphs that are similar to the later [[Maya script]].<ref>Pohl et al. (2002).</ref> Known as the [[Cascajal Block]], and dated between 1100 and 900&nbsp;BCE, the 2006 find from a site near San Lorenzo shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are unique, carved on a serpentine block. A large number of prominent archaeologists have hailed this find as the "earliest pre-Columbian writing".<ref>Skidmore. These prominent proponents include [[Michael D. Coe]], [[Richard Diehl]], [[Karl Taube]], and [[Stephen D. Houston]].</ref> Others are skeptical because of the stone's singularity, the fact that it had been removed from any archaeological context, and because it bears no apparent resemblance to any other Mesoamerican writing system.<ref>Bruhns, et al.</ref>

There are also well-documented later hieroglyphs known as the [[Isthmian script]], and while there are some who believe that the Isthmian may represent a transitional script between an earlier Olmec writing system and the Maya script, the matter remains unsettled.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}