Mesoamerican writing systems
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Mesoamerica, along with Mesopotamia and China, is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combina
Monument 3 at San José Mogote. The two shaded glyphs between his legs are likely his name, Earthquake 1.
Detail showing glyphs from 2nd century CE La Mojarra Stela 1. The left column gives a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.9, or 162 CE. The other columns are glyphs from the Epi-Olmec script.
Stela 5 from Abaj Takalik
Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico
Olmecs
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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 perio
Olmec Head No. 3 from San Lorenzo-Tenochtitlán; 1226 –900 BC; basalt; height: 1.8 m, length: 1.28 m, width: 0.83 m; Xalapa Museum of Anthropology (Xalapa, Mexico)
El Señor de las Limas; 1000–600 BC; greenstone; height: 55 cm; Xalapa Museum of Anthropology
The Wrestler; 1200–400 BC; basalt; height: 66 cm, from the Arroyo Sonso area (Veracruz, Mexico); Museo Nacional de Antropología. Olmec artists are known for both monumental and miniature portrayals of what are assumed to be persons of authority-from six-ton heads sculptures to figurines.
Great pyramid in La Venta, Tabasco