La Venta, Chiapas, Mexico
La Venta, Chiapas, Mexico [Si].Major Olmec religious centre on an island in the marshy lowlands of Tabasco Province near the Tonala River. Overall, the site was used from about 1000 BC down to 600 BC, but it reached its greatest size during the Middle Formative Stage (c.850–750 BC) after the abandonment of San Lorenzo in c.900 BC. La Venta is dominated by a large clay pyramid, about 33m high and 128m in diameter at the base, built in the form of a fluted cone. Its form may imitate volcanic cones such as can be seen in the Tuxtla Mountains only 100km to the west. Round about, spread over an area covering 5 square km, there are numerous platforms, mounds, pyramids, and plazas. All the major structures are aligned broadly north–south. Some of the platforms are thought to have supported houses for the elite, constructed in perishable materials and long since gone.
Carved stone stelae (many probably broken at the death of those they...
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