Spanish traveler and writer José María Melgar y Serrano documented the first known Olmec colossal head at Tres Zapotes in 1862. In 1939—about 77 years later—Matthew Stirling excavated a second colossal head there, not Melgar's. Tres Zapotes was a late Olmec center, so its heads are among the younger examples. Matthew and Marion Stirling's work recovered the upper portion of Stela C; its Long Count date is generally correlated to 31–32 BCE, about three centuries before the Classic Maya period and evidence of the calendar's early use.
José María Melgar documented the first known Olmec colossal head at Tres Zapotes in 1862
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Key facts
- José María Melgar y Serrano was a Spanish traveler and writer, not Mexican.
- The first Olmec colossal head known to modern scholars was documented at Tres Zapotes in 1862.
- Matthew Stirling excavated a second colossal head at Tres Zapotes in 1939, about 77 years later; it was not the head already documented by Melgar.
- Tres Zapotes was a late Olmec center, and its colossal heads are among the later examples.
- Matthew Stirling found the upper portion of Stela C in 1939. Marion Stirling, his wife and research partner, continued their Tres Zapotes research; Stela C's Long Count inscription is generally correlated to 31–32 BCE.
- Stela C's date is roughly three centuries before the conventional start of the Classic Maya period around 250 CE. It documents early use of the Long Count calendar rather than dating the entire Olmec civilization.
Sources
Olmec Colossal Headssmarthistory.org
16 heads, ranging from 1.47 m to 3.4 m in height and weighing between 6 and 25.3 tons, have been recovered from the three main Olmec ...
The Olmec Colossal Heads of MesoAmerica360onhistory.com
The Olmec Colossal Heads of MesoAmerica are giant sculptures of heads that were part of the Olmec culture and History in Mexico.
Olmec colossal headsen.wikipedia.org
Tres Zapotes Monument A (also known as Tres Zapotes Colossal Head 1) was the first colossal head to be found, discovered by accident in the middle of ...
Smart Traveler's Guide To The Olmec Headscaravan.com
The Olmec Colossal Heads range in size. The smallest is the Tres Zapotes Monument Q. It's 4.8 ft. (1.45 m) tall, 4.4 ft. (1.34 m) wide, and 4.1 ft. (1.26 m.) ...
Tres Zapotesen.wikipedia.org
It is thought that the two colossal heads date from this period. It was near Tres Zapotes that the first colossal head was discovered in 1862 by José Melgar.
The Colossal Heads of the Olmecthoughtco.com
Seventeen Olmec colossal heads have been found: 10 at San Lorenzo, four at La Venta, two at Tres Zapotes and one at La Cobata. Creating the ...
Museo de Sitio de Tres Zapoteslugares.inah.gob.mx
The pre-Hispanic city of Tres Zapotes in Veracruz is famous for the discovery of the first colossal Olmec head by José María Melgar y Serrano in 1862, also for ...
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