Olmecs

The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 BC during Mesoamerica's formative period. They were initially centered at the site of their development in San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, but moved to La Venta in the 10th century BC following the decline of San Lorenzo. By about 400 BC the major centres of the Olmec civilization had been abandoned, and the population of the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously. The settlement density in that area remained much

tablet-sized slab in Mexico with characters of possibly the first New-World writing system

pre-Columbian archaeological culture/area in the coastal Veracruz region of Mexico, ca. 300BCE&ndash

home of the Olmec culture in south east Mexico

signs found on the Cascajal Block, which may represent Olmec writing