Most of the monumental sculpture at the…
148 CE to 159 CE
Most of the monumental sculpture at the Tres Zapotes archaeological site is epi-Olmec, dating from the Late Formative period.
These sculptures show, as do Tres Zapotes ceramics, a continuity with and yet a gradual change away from Olmec patterns.
Tres Zapotes Stela D depicts a scene that is framed by the mouth of a monster, similar to the framing of La Venta's much more ancient Altar 4—but while the Olmec altar refers to a mythical event, Stela D's content is historical in nature.
This framing device can also be seen Izapa Stela 2 which is carved at much the same time as Stela D. This and other similarities have led some archaeologists to suggest that Izapa heavily influenced Tres Zapotes' Epi-Olmec artistic conventions, or even that Tres Zapotes Epi-Olmec styles developed from the Izapan style.
However, recent scholarship instead highlights "their descent from a common ancestor, the Olmec culture, with some sharing of motifs and techniques in an evolving co-tradition". (Pool, Christopher A. [2007]. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Despite similarities with earlier Olmec sculptures, though, Tres Zapotes Epi-Olmec sculpture appears to lack the artisanship, refinement, and detail of its San Lorenzo and La Venta predecessors.
This is only partially attributable to the coarser local Cerro El Vigía basalt.
It is during this Epi-Olmec period that a new Mesoamerican writing system appears at Tres Zapotes: the Isthmian (or Epi-Olmec) script, as well as some of the earliest dates in the Long Count calendar format.
La Mojarra Stela 1, a Mesoamerican carved monument (stela) dating from the second century CE, was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico, not far from Tres Zapotes.
The 41⁄2-foot-wide (1.4 m) by 61⁄2-foot-high (two meters), four-ton limestone slab contains about five hundred and thirty-five glyphs of the Isthmian script.
One of Mesoamerica's earliest known written records, this Epi-Olmec culture monument not only recorded this ruler's achievements, but placed them within a cosmological framework of calendars and astronomical events.
The right side of the stone features a full-length portrait of a man in an elaborate headdress and costume, although the bottom half of the carving is very badly weathered.
Above the figure, 12 short columns of glyphs have been etched into the stone, matched by eight longer columns to the figure's right.
Among these glyphs are two Mesoamerican Long Count calendar dates which correspond to May 143 CE and July 156 CE.
The monument is an early example of the type of stela which later becomes common, commemorating rulers of Maya sites in the Classic era.
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Middle America
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