Beginning about 1500 B.C. a people emerged from the watery lowlands of the Gulf Coast of Mexico and established the first cities in the Americas. Famous for their colossal stone heads, the Olmecs developed the first civilization in the New World. They built palaces, pyramids, and tombs, and they developed writing, astronomy, and a calendar. They left a vivid artistic tradition that awes critics today. They are often called the “Mother Culture” of the Maya, Toltecs, and other Mesoamerican civilizations, and new discoveries about them come with each new field season.
University of Alabama archaeologist Richard A. Deihl has produced the first modern overview of this fascinating culture that was only discovered in the 1940s. Sixty years of research has garnered much knowledge from an area that is difficult to access and explore, where virtually no skeletons or organic materials survive in the acidic tropical soil. Deihl has pulled all of this information into a readable survey of what archaeologists know today. This volume is lavishly illustrated with photos of Olmec exploration and art as well as diagrams and illustrations of the ruins. It is a must for students of ancient Mesoamerica.—Mark Michel
