The Olmec colossal stone heads still defy explanation, but a newly examined detail about their creation just rewrote what experts believed. Known as Mesoamerica’s earliest civilization, the Olmec left giant sculptures weighing tons, long thought to be portraits of rulers.
In the state of Tabasco in southern Mexico, near the Guatemalan border, lies a large, flat pasture used for cattle grazing for generations. Underneath the grass is a raised earthen platform approximately 1.5 kilometers long and up to 15 meters high. Researchers estimate that its construction required moving more earth than was used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza.The site, known as Aguada Fenix…