Editing Olmecs (section)

===Colossal heads===
{{Main|Olmec colossal heads}}
The most recognized aspect of the Olmec civilization are the enormous helmeted heads.<ref>Diehl, p. 111.</ref> As no known pre-Columbian text explains them, these impressive monuments have been the subject of much speculation. Once theorized to be ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers.<ref>Pool, p. 118; Diehl, p. 112. Coe (2002), p. 69: "They wear headgear rather like American football helmets which probably served as protection in both war and in the ceremonial game played...throughout Mesoamerica."</ref> Infused with individuality, no two heads are alike and the helmet-like headdresses are adorned with distinctive elements, suggesting personal or group symbols. Some have also speculated that Mesoamerican people believed that the soul, along with all of one's experiences and emotions, was contained inside the head.<ref name=Miller/><ref>Grove, p. 55.</ref>

Seventeen colossal heads have been unearthed to date.<ref>Pool, p. 107.</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|-
! Site
! Count
! Designations
|-
| style="width:110px" | [[San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán|San Lorenzo]]
| style="width:40px" align="center" |10
| style="width:200px" |Colossal Heads 1 through 10
|-
| [[La Venta]]
| align="center" |4
| Monuments 1 through 4
|-
|[[Tres Zapotes]]
|align="center" |2
|Monuments A & Q
|-
|Rancho la Cobata
|align="center" |1
|Monument 1
|}

[[File:Estatuilla de Tuxtla.jpg|thumb|upright|Tuxtla statuette]]
The heads range in size from the Rancho La Cobata head, at {{cvt|3.4|m|ft}} high, to the pair at Tres Zapotes, at {{cvt|1.47|m|ftin}}. Scholars calculate that the largest heads weigh between {{convert|25|and|55|t|ST|abbr=off}}.<ref>In particular, Williams and Heizer (p. 29) calculated the weight of San Lorenzo Colossal Head 1 at 25.3 [[short ton]]s, or 23 [[tonne]]s. See Scarre. pp. 271–274 for the "55 tonnes" weight.</ref>

[[File:La_Venta_Mosaic_(Ruben_Charles).jpg|thumb|left|One of the mosaics from the La Venta Olmec site]]
The heads were carved from single blocks or boulders of volcanic [[basalt]], found in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. The Tres Zapotes heads, for example, were sculpted from basalt found at the summit of Cerro el Vigía, at the western end of the Tuxtlas. The San Lorenzo and La Venta heads, on the other hand, were probably carved from the basalt of Cerro Cintepec, on the southeastern side,<ref>See Williams and Heizer for more detail.</ref> perhaps at the nearby [[Llano del Jicaro]] workshop, and dragged or floated to their final destination dozens of miles away.<ref>Scarre. Pool, p. 129.</ref> It has been estimated that moving a colossal head required the efforts of 1,500 people for three to four months.<ref name="Pool, p. 103" />

Some of the heads, and many other monuments, have been variously mutilated, buried and disinterred, reset in new locations and/or reburied. Some monuments, and at least two heads, were recycled or recarved, but it is not known whether this was simply due to the scarcity of stone or whether these actions had ritual or other connotations. Scholars believe that some mutilation had significance beyond mere destruction, but some scholars still do not rule out internal conflicts or, less likely, invasion as a factor.<ref>Diehl, p. 119.</ref>

The flat-faced, thick-lipped heads have caused some debate due to their resemblance to some African facial characteristics. Based on this comparison, some writers have said that the Olmecs were Africans who had emigrated to the New World.<ref>Wiercinski, A. (1972). "Inter-and Intrapopulational Racial Differentiation of Tlatilco, Cerro de Las Mesas, Teothuacan, Monte Alban and Yucatan Maya," ''XXXIX Congreso Intern. de Americanistas,'' Lima 1970, '''1''', 231–252.</ref> But the vast majority of archaeologists and other Mesoamerican scholars reject claims of pre-Columbian contacts with Africa.<ref>[[Karl Taube]], for one, says "There simply is no material evidence of any Pre-Hispanic contact between the Old World and Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century.", p. 17.
*Davis, N. ''Voyagers to the New World,'' University of New Mexico Press, 1979 {{ISBN|0-8263-0880-5}}
*Williams, S. ''Fantastic Archaeology,'' University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991 {{ISBN|0-8122-1312-2}}
*Feder, K.L. ''Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries. Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology'' 3rd ed., Trade Mayfield {{ISBN|0-7674-0459-9}}
</ref> Explanations for the facial features of the colossal heads include the possibility that the heads were carved in this manner due to the shallow space allowed on the basalt boulders. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and thick lips, the eyes of the heads often show the [[epicanthic fold]], and that all these characteristics can still be found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. For instance, in the 1940s, the artist/art historian [[Miguel Covarrubias]] published a series of photos of Olmec artwork and of the faces of modern [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Mexican Indians]] with very similar facial characteristics.<ref>''Mexico South'', Covarrubias, 1946</ref> The African origin hypothesis assumes that Olmec carving was intended to be a representation of the inhabitants, an assumption that is hard to justify given the full corpus of representation in Olmec carving.<ref>Ortiz de Montellano, et al. 1997, p. 217</ref>

[[Ivan Van Sertima]] claimed that the seven braids on the Tres Zapotes head was an Ethiopian hair style, but he offered no evidence it was a contemporary style. The [[Egyptology|Egyptologist]] [[Frank J. Yurco]] has said that the Olmec braids do not resemble contemporary Egyptian or Nubian braids.<ref>Haslip-Viera, Gabriel: Bernard Ortiz de Montellano; Warren Barbour Source "Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs," ''Current Anthropology'', '''38''' (3), (Tun., 1997), pp. 419–441</ref>

[[Richard Diehl]] wrote "There can be no doubt that the heads depict the American Indian physical type still seen on the streets of Soteapan, Acayucan, and other towns in the region."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Olmecs: America's First Civilization|author-link=Richard Diehl|last=Diehl|first=Richard A.|publisher=Thames and Hudson|year=2004|location=London|isbn=0-500-28503-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/112 112]|url=https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/112}}</ref>