La Venta

La Venta is a major Olmec archaeological site in Tabasco, Mexico, that flourished between approximately 900 and 400 BC as the most prominent settlement in Mesoamerica. Its dominant feature is a 30-metre-high clay mound shaped like a fluted cone, possibly representing a volcano. The site contained three mosaic pavements depicting jaguar masks that were ritually buried shortly after completion, along with colossal basalt heads weighing roughly 18 tons each, quarried from sources 80 miles away. Built entirely of earth and clay due to a lack of local stone, La Venta served as a civic and ceremonial center with a restricted sacred area, great plaza, and monumental pyramid.