The Olmec moved extraordinary amounts of stone: 2 to 7 ton basalt columns, 40-50 ton megalithic altars, and serpentine mosaic caches weighing over 1,000 tons each—five known caches total roughly 5,000+ tons. All material came from outside their heartland: basalt from 90+ miles northwest and serpentine from 100+ miles away in Maya territory. How they transported a 50-ton head remains unknown.
Olmec transported thousands of tons of stone from distant sources
Key facts
- Olmec transported 2 to 7 ton basalt columns, with some reaching 14-15 tons
- Megalithic altars weighed 40-50 tons before carving, possibly 50+ tons during transport
- Serpentine mosaic caches weighed over 1,000 tons each, with 5 known caches totaling 5,000+ tons
- All material sourced from outside the Olmec heartland: basalt from 90+ miles northwest, serpentine from 100+ miles away in Maya territory
- A nautical engineer calculated that the minimum raft size for a 5-ton head would not fit through narrow stretches of the Coatzacoalcos River
- The smallest Olmec head is 6 tons and the largest exceeds 50 tons, making transportation method unknown
Sources
Olmec colossal heads - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
San Lorenzo ; high; it measures 1.65 metres (5.4 ; wide by 1.6 metres (5.2 ; deep and weighs 13 tons. · It is one of the finest examples of an Olmec colossal head.
Colossal heads of the Olmec. - Lithic Casting Lablithiccastinglab.com
It's made of basalt and it measures 8.8 feet (2.68 m) high. Its weight is estimated to be 20 tons. Seventeen colossal heads have been discovered ...
Olmec Colossal Heads - Smarthistorysmarthistory.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 archaeological sites.
These Ancient Mesoamerican Stone Heads Are Huge—So Is the ...news.artnet.com
The Olmec heads are among the largest non-architectural monuments ever discovered in Mexico, ranging between roughly 3.5 and 11.5 feet in height and weighing ...
Olmec - Summary - eHRAF Archaeologyehrafarchaeology.yale.edu
One particular building has large basalt columns, steps and an aqueduct that provided running water. Workshops dedicated to sculpting and reworking basalt are ...
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