Marian Sterling deciphers 32 BC stela proving Olmec priority

City/town/settlement1500 - 500 BC
The First Explorers of the Olmecs: A Truly Lost Civilization
Source: The First Explorers of the Olmecs: A Truly Lost Civilization by Luke Caverns

Marion Stirling was attacked for estimating a Tres Zapotes stela dated to 32 BC using the bar and dot system. When a farmer found the missing half, it confirmed September 3, 32 BC — exactly as she predicted ✨ She proved the Olmecs had writing and astronomy before any other Mesoamerican civilization 🏔️

Key facts

  • Marian Sterling analyzed a broken stela discovered at Tres Zapotes
  • Using the Mesoamerican bar and dot numbering system, she estimated the date as 32 BC
  • She was viciously scrutinized and attacked by Maya archaeologists
  • Other scholars placed the Olmec at 400 AD or even after 1000 AD
  • Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Zenil later found the missing half of the stela
  • The date was precisely September 3, 32 BC - exactly as Marian predicted
  • This provided irrefutable evidence that the Olmecs had writing, numerology, dating, and probably astronomy before any other Mesoamerican civilization
  • The Sterlings had found Mesoamerica's mother culture

Site mentioned

📄 Tres Zapotes🌍 Show on the globe

Sources

[PDF] Stone Monuments of Southern Mexico - Mesowebmesoweb.com
At Cerro de las Mesas, Tres Zapotes, Izapa, and La Venta, the. ''tiger mask" panel was utilized as a decorative motive on stelae, a feature which occurs also ...
Maya News - www.correctingworldhistory.comcorrectingworldhistory.com
... Matthew Stirling discovered at Tres Zapotes the bottom half of Stela C. This stela was carved from basalt, with one side showing an Olmec-style engraving ...
Matthew and Marion Stirling in Camp at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz ...si.edu
Matthew and Marion Stirling, anthropologists at the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology, in camp at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico on 2 April 1939.
Calendars: How the Ancients Recorded Time - The New York Timesnytimes.com
He found there stele—a monumental stone shaft—inscribed with a date. The top numeral was missing, but he guessed it to be seven, which would ...
Marion Stirling Pugh - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Her discovery of a date in the Long Count calendar, corresponding to 32 BCE, on a stela from Tres Zapotes, helped establish the antiquity of the Olmec ...
Was this story useful?

More about Tres Zapotes

← All stories

Keep exploring

Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.

3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search

AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.