The tuxtlas mountains rise sharply in the north, along the gulf of mexicos bay of campeche. If youre behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains. The present study of theobromine residues confirms the continuous presence and use of cacao products at san lorenzo between 1800 and bce, and documents assorted vessels forms used in its preparation and consumption. The olmec culture thrived along mexicos gulf coast from roughly 1200 b. Here, the olmec constructed permanent citytemple complexes at san lorenzo. In fact, excavation has shown it to have taken on the appearance of an olmec site by 1150 bce and to have been destroyed, perhaps by invaders, around 900 bce. San lorenzo is the name of the central place in the larger san lorenzo tenochtitlan archaeological region. The archaeology of san lorenzo tenochtitlan, by coe, michael d. It is located on a steep plateau above the coatzacoalcos floodplain. One of the most important archaeological sites associated with this culture is known as san lorenzo. Various climatic and cultural factors make the preservation of organic. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and volcanoes. Until now, comparable evidence from san lorenzo, the premier olmec capital, was lacking. San lorenzo was the largest city in mesoamerica from roughly 1,200 b.
The olmec heartland is the area in the gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in soconusco, veracruz. San lorenzo is now established as the oldest known olmec centre. If youre seeing this message, it means were having trouble loading external resources on our website. The olmec ancient civilizations article khan academy. The olmec site of san lorenzo was occupied during the early preclassic period, between 1800 cal bc and cal bc, and featured a unique social development in mesoamerica. By 800 bce, there was little or no population, although there was an important recolonisation of the san lorenzo plateau from 600 to 400 bce and again from c.
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