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What civilization made big stone heads?
The Olmec
The Olmec created massive monuments, including colossal stone heads, thrones, stela (upright slabs), and statues. They may have been the originators of the Mesoamerican ball game, a ceremonial team sport played throughout the region for centuries.
Who discovered the Olmecs?
Olmec culture was unknown to historians until the mid-19th century. In 1869, the Mexican antiquarian traveller José Melgar y Serrano published a description of the first Olmec monument to have been found in situ.
Where were the Olmec stone heads found?
All of the authentic Olmec heads can be found in Mexico. San Lorenzo Head (10) is located at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Community Museum while San Lorenzo Heads (2) and (6) are at Mexico City’s National Anthropology Museum. Xalapa’s Anthropology Museum houses the remaining San Lorenzo sculptures.
Where was the first colossal head found?
Tres Zapotes
The discovery of the first colossal head at Tres Zapotes in 1862 by José María Melgar y Serrano was not well documented nor reported outside of Mexico. The excavation of the same colossal head by Matthew Stirling in 1938 spurred the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture.
Where are the giant stone heads in the world?
Arguably the most famous oversized heads in the world, and the only reason anyone knows where Easter Island is. Where: Nearly half of the 887 moai are still in the quarry at Rana Raraku. The rest were set on stone patforms around the perimeter of the island. Who: The Rapa Nui people, the eastern most Polynesian people in the Pacific.
Why did the Olmec Indians make stone heads?
The Olmec stone heads of Mexico The Olmec believed that the head alone contained the emotions, experience, and soul of an individual. So they made big ones, made from stone. Who: The Olmec Civilization. Why: To honour their rulers. There are indications that the heads were moved around to be used in different rituals.
Why are the colossal stone heads only the head?
The fact that these giant sculptures depict only the head may be explained by the widely held belief in Mesoamerican culture that it was the head alone which contained the emotions, experience, and soul of an individual.
When was the first stone head discovered in Tres Zapotes?
The first rumours of large stone-heads in Tres Zapotes came from as early as 1858, but it was in 1938 that Dr. Stirling uncovered the first head, which was made from a single piece of basalt rock resting on a prepared foundation of unworked slabs of stone.
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