This view is standing in the northern part of the site, and in the main plaza, looking north towards the main pyramid mound, which rises about 25 meters above the surrounding plain. In the foreground, there is one of the colossal basalt stone figure heads that have been found at La Venta. The mounds and terraces are mostly overgrown, and they remain unexcavated. Most of the sculptures that remain are cast fiberglass replicas, the originals are in La Venta Park and Museum in Villahermosa.
This is one of the colossal stone figure heads that were found at the site, it probably depicts
a lord or ruler of some sort, with administrative or ceremonial head dress and features. There is
some controversy about the flared nostrils and thick eyelids and lips, seemingly negroid features
of the face, they also bear similarities to the down-turned scowling eyes and maw of the jaguar,
as seen on other monuments at the site.
The origins of these people are not that well understood, they may well have come to this land
from elsewhere, far away, across vast bodies of water, as their legends tell us. There are other
monuments at the site as well, such as stelae with strange figures of unknown origin, and symbols
and hieroglyphics that may point to the influence of other distant civilizations.
A typical example of an Olmec stone altar, this is one of several, similar ones found at the site. It depicts an Olmec lord or ruler, sitting in the mouth of a cave on the front face of a large, rectangular stone altar. The raised cornice at the top, and the front face of the altar are carved with the stylized features of the jaguar maw, which is associated with the mouth of the cave, and with power and rulership. The ruler is holding a knotted chord which runs around the base of the altar, and to captives, sitting tied up, on the sides of the monument.
The jaguar was the most powerful land animal encountered in the jungles of Central America, and it became the symbolic representation of power and rulership for the Olmecs, and all the suceeding civilizations of Meso-America. It is usually associated with the mouth of a cave, as well as the central doorway of a temple, or the altar in front of it.
In the museum at La Venta, there is a detailed topographical model showing the site and the river,
reconstructed to show the city as it existed in the Olmec period. The main plaza is to the north,
in the top half of the picture, with the main pyramid mound on the north side of the main plaza,
and platforms and terraces on the east and west sides. There is a large, raised complex of palaces
on the east side of the main plaza, and subsidiary pyramids and palace platforms to the south. At
the south end of the site, there was an even larger open plaza, maybe a market square, surrounded
by low platforms and terraces.
At the northern end of the site, and north of the main pyramid mound, there is a small ballcourt,
with parallel walls running north to south, and another, smaller mound terminating the northern
end of the playing field. Apparently the ballgame, which features so prominently in all the major
suceeding Meso-American civilizations, was invented by the rubber people, which seems appropriate,
since the ball for playing the game, would most suitably have been made of rubber.
Most of the other characteristic features of Meso-American art, architecture and culture are also
pre-figured in the Olmec civilization. Axial and symetrical architecture, organized around sacred
sites and with cosmological orientation, courtyards and plazas surrounded by pyramids, platforms
and terraces, monumental stone sculpture and stelae, astronomy, calendars, hieroglyphics and the
sacred ballgame.
