Seventeen of these heads are known, carved from basalt boulders brought more than 150 kilometres from the Tuxtla Mountains to Olmec centres on Mexico's Gulf Coast. Each has broad features, a heavy brow and its own close-fitting headdress, which is why they are thought to portray individual rulers. The head shown stands in Villahermosa; the others are divided among Mexican museums.
Look closer
The headgear may represent protective helmets, perhaps for war or the ritual ballgame. The backs are often flat, and two heads were recarved from massive stone thrones.
Looks like this
Compared by a vision model
