we've all heard about the maya with their amazing cities and temples dotted across mexico and beyond but have you heard of the olmec empire their civilization existed between 1200 to 400 bc and with the precursors to later cultures such as the maya and zapotec empires in fact they're seen as the earliest rulers in mesoamerica the name olmec was given in more recent times and is derived from an aztec term roughly meaning inhabitants of the rubber country but extracting latex from rubber trees wasn't their only forte they built pyramids were into astronomy and carved remarkably sophisticated
pieces of art including 17 huge stone heads invented new ball sports and traded all over central america they were highly influential and are thought of by many experts as the mother culture of that region takalika bach is one such olmec site in western guatemala the myers went on to inherit this area and it's now regarded as a deeply special place by guatemalans [Music] in 2008 archaeologists discovered sculptures at the site that appeared to provide vital clues to the transition between olmec and maya civilizations and in recent years there's a greater understanding about why such ancient
civilizations flourished here concepts [Music] the impressive legacy of the olmec has possibly been eclipsed by later pre-columbian civilizations but in many ways they are one in the same the maya zapotec and totanak cultures all have the almec to thank for sculpting the basis of many of their worlds [Music] you
