6a00d8341c73fe53ef0105360fd328970b-800wi

Before we can bring the context of meso-American civilisations up to contemporary dates with the later Incan empire in south-America, we must first consider the Olmecs, who were late contemporaries of the Nascans and Icans of Peru. The Olmecs once populated the entire meso-American land-bridge and the Yucatan penninsula, however by the time recorded history began being kept by the Maya, in the form of the Popul Vuh (the earliest surviving written record in the area), the Olmec were already mostly forgotten, their populations dispersed in the south-central jungles of what we today call Mexico. From 3600 to 2400 years ago, the Olmec lived in dense populations in a rigid class structure. Their artefacts and relics reminaing to this day include, most recogniseably, several hundred enourmous stone busts scattered throughout the jungle of meso-America. The scale of all of them is identical, though no two look exactly alike. Some depict wrinkled old women, others robust, masculine bone-structure, but few resemble the appearance of the indegenous people populating the region today.