Ancient site · City
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
Also known as San Lorenzo
The first great centre of the Olmec civilization, on a raised plateau above the river plains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. From about 1400 to 900 BCE its rulers commissioned colossal basalt heads up to about 3.4 metres tall and weighing as much as 28 tonnes, along with huge stone thrones.
Builders moved hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of earth to level the plateau and laid lines of U-shaped stone drains, showing organised work on a big scale. Leadership later shifted to La Venta.
- Dates
- Olmec centre c. 1400–900 BCE
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 17.75° N, 94.76° W
How we know
No readable writing survives; the site is dated by radiocarbon and by its pottery sequence.
Nearby sites
- La Venta c. 1200–400 BCE (main centre c. 900–400 BCE)
- Guilá Naquitz Cave used c. 8800–6900 BCE and again c. 650–1450 CE
- San José Mogote c. 1500–500 BCE
- Monte Albán c. 500 BCE – 850 CE
- Paso de la Amada c. 1800–1000 BCE
- Teotihuacan c. 100 BCE – 550 CE (centre burned); declined to c. 650 CE
Related
- Olmec culture (early) archaeological culture
- The world in 1500 BCE: Chariots and Empires chapter