Rolling Giants: The Olmec Colossal Heads and the Logistics of Scale

We explore how the Olmec heartland moved 50-ton basalt heads from Sierra de los Tuxtlas to centers like San Lorenzo and La Venta. Without metal tools, they used natural pre-shaping and log-raft river transport during the rainy season, and prepared earthen roads to drag the monuments into place. The reuse of older thrones as new portraits shows how public sculpture functioned as social technology, binding communities through coordinated labor, seasonal timing, and political continuity.

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