Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica

The foundations for the Maya and other civilizations of ancient
Mesoamerica were laid down over 2,400 years ago during the early
and middle phases of the Formative period. The most elaborate of these
formative Mesoamerican societies are represented by the archaeological
culture called Olmec, which merged some 3,500 years ago in the tropical lowlands of southern Veracruz and Tebasco, Mexico. Flourishing
over the next 1,000 years, the Olmec created the most complex social
and political hierarchies of their time on the North American continent.
Olmec rulers expressed their material and religious power in the first
monumental stone art of Mesoamerica, remarkable for its sophistication
and naturalism, as well as through massive buried offerings of wealth
obtained from great distances. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica
offers the most thorough and up-to-date book-length treatment of
Olmec society and culture available.