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The following essay appeared in a 1940 issue of the National Geographic Magazine
By Matthew W. Stirling
(another inquisitive mind!)

We are certain you will enjoy M.W. Stirling's accounts on his diggings, as much as we did. It's fascinating reading!!!

On a sandy island near Villahermosa, Mexico, is a place called La Venta, once the flourishing center of an elaborate civilization. From about 1500 to 600 BC, the Olmec—probable ancestors of the Maya, Toltecs, and other Mesoamerican peoples—dominated the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Although their history is uncertain, the Olmec's artistic legacy is indisputable. At La Venta, archaeologists discovered intricate jewelry, a masterfully planned urban center, and most notably, enormous carved basalt heads. In this 1940 National Geographic article, expedition leader Matthew Stirling describes one of the most exciting archaeological finds of Mesoamerica.

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Great Stone Faces of the Mexican Jungle

By Matthew W. Stirling

The night was calm and clear: the moon was full. As we lay stretched on our cots, the warm south breeze brought to our ears the sound of a steady, rhythmic stamping like the distant beating of drums.

Rising and falling in volume with the vagaries of the breeze came the lively strains of stringed music, interspersed with the high-pitched wail of falsetto voices. It was the first night of our return to camp at Tres Zapotes in southeastern Mexico and the huapungo was in full swing at the village a mile away.

It was good to be back again at the familiar scene. The brilliant moonlight filtering between the vertical palm-ribbed walls of our thatched house cut slices through our mosquito nets as though they were loaves of bread....

By Boat and Trail to Tres Zapotes

It had been a long day. Early in the morning we had awakened in our favorite little hotel in Tlacotalpan. Our baggage had been stowed on Ricardo's big dugout launch and we had wound our tortuous way through a network of narrow channels, in the afternoon we had transferred our equipment to a train of mules and ridden over the muddy trail to Tres Zapotes.

Here our hearts were warmed by the greetings from our friends of last year. The huapango, characteristic folk dance of Veracruz State, had been arranged as a welcome in our honor, and the evening had been spent in renewing old acquaintances and listening to the news....

Pleading weariness at last, the guests of honor left the dance and returned to the peace and quiet of our camp by the Colossal Head which we had unearthed the year before....

In the morning we arose early to view our surroundings by daylight and were pleased to find the camp in as good condition as we had left it a year ago. Dr. Philip Drucker had been sent in advance to put the camp into shape and to make the necessary arrangements....

Solving Mysteries with a Shovel

We were filled with the enthusiasm that is always present during the early days of a new dig. Would we find anything this year to compare in interest with the stela [carved stone monument] we had discovered the previous January, a slab which bears a date equivalent to November 4, 291 B. C., and which is 200 years older than any work of man previously dated in America. Would we discover anything as striking as our Colossal Head?

Our program provided that we were to continue at Tres Zapotes until the end of April, working out the chronology of the stratified deposits of pottery in the kitchen middens, or refuse heaps.

In addition, we expected to make a few exploratory trips. The southern part of the State of Veracruz and the neighboring territory constitute an archeological area of unusual importance and one which has a definite bearing on the proper interpretation of such classical high culture areas as the Maya of Central America, the Zapotecan of Oaxaca, and the Toltec and Aztec of the Valley of Mexico.

Inhabited before the Time of Christ

Tres Zapotes itself gives evidence of being one of the longest-inhabited sites in Veracruz. After our second season, we feel that we now have a complete record of the human occupation of this site from a time several centuries before Christ until shortly before the Spanish occupation.

Some of the relics had been buried not only by earth but by deposition of sedimentary rock. Twenty feet below the surface we found an unbroken layer of sandstone two feet thick. Below this sandstone, to our surprise, was a deposit of dark-colored earth about four feet thick filled with pottery fragments and figurines.

At other points we found still other levels containing artifacts of entirely different types, so that we were able to segregate the cultural material belonging to each of these periods.

The length of time during which this ancient city flourished would make the oldest cities of the United States seem youthful.

Human Skull and Pottery Found

In one of the smaller mounds we made our most exciting discovery of the season at Tres Zapotes. We found, at a depth of six feet, a group of pottery vessels beside which was a human skull without the lower jaw.

After carefully cleaning the earth from around this deposit, we found that it consisted of a cache containing 35 elaborate figurines and 12 painted pottery disks, over which were inverted 15 pottery vessels of fine ware.

Although the skull apparently formed a part of the cache, it did not seem to have been placed there in connection with a burial.

In addition to the esthetic interest in the unusually fine materials in this collection, the find was of special scientific importance because the discovery of such a large variety of pottery vessels and figurines associated in a definite archeological horizon makes it possible to tie in similar ware found in other places.

As a result of our intensive efforts, Tres Zapotes forms an important key site to which the work in the entire region may be related.

Great Stone Face Buried to Its Eyes

In planning reconnaissance trips in this area we recalled that in 1925 an exploring expedition from Tulane University, headed by Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge, visited La Venta, just east of the Tonala River, in northwestern Tabasco. Here they discovered several interesting stone monuments, for the most part deeply buried.

Since their time was limited to a single day at this site, they did not have opportunity to excavate, but their photographs of one of these stones revealed the upper part of a huge head, with one eye exposed, which showed a remarkable similarity to the Colossal Head of Tres Zapotes. The carving of the Tres Zapotes head is very realistic and is done in the early style which archeologists have generally referred to as "Olmec."

Because of the obvious importance of the Blom-La Farge discovery in relation to our work in Veracruz, La Venta was included as an important feature of our 1940 field work.

First, however, we planned to visit another site, on the Rio Blanco, which had been called to our attention by Mr. Francis Richardson and had been visited in 1925 by Dr. Herbert Spinden....

Well satisfied with our preliminary survey, we returned to Veracruz to prepare for our trip to La Venta by way of Coatzacoalcos.

During its centuries of existence Coatzacoalcos has had many ups and downs. Once an important point for the shipping of mahogany, it later became a banana port. Finally oil wells were discovered in the vicinity and its principal industries now revolve about the shipping of petroleum.

Judging from the early Spanish accounts, this entire region supported a large aboriginal population, but the archeology of the area is virtually unknown. It is of exceptional interest, because it lies along the western fringe of the classical Maya area, and it is in this region, if any, that the closest connections should be found linking the Maya with the ancient cultures of the Veracruz coast.

From here we traveled eastward by truck over a road which can be traversed only during the dry season. During the remainder of the year one cannot go from Coatzacoalcos to Tonala except by sea.

After crossing three hair-raising bridges, we reached Tonala still intact. The town is scattered along the west bank of the Tonala River just above its mouth. We arrived in the morning and, after a meal of rice soup and fish, we hired a launch and started up the river at noon.

A Trade That Cheated Both Sides

Four hundred and twenty-two years ago the ships of Grijalva [Spaniard Juan de Grijalva, who explored the eastern coast of Mexico in 1518], skirting southward along this coast, put into the mouth of the Tonala River. One of the ships, in passing the shallow entrance, stuck on the bar, sprang a leak, and was careened for repairs. Two accounts of this visit have been preserved, one written by the chaplain of the expedition and the other by the redoubtable Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who left the most satisfactory account of the conquest of Mexico.

While at Tonala, the Spaniards were visited in a friendly manner by Indians from a town four or five miles distant, who brought gifts of corn bread, fish, and fruit. In return the Spaniards gave them glass beads and indicated by signs that they wished to trade for gold. The Indians spread this information, and the Spaniards gathered a small amount of native gold jewelry.

Soon Indians came from as far away as Coatzacoalcos to trade. Most of them carried, for ornament and defense, hatchets made of brightly polished copper fitted to elaborately painted wooden handles. These hatchets the Spaniards thought to be low-grade gold.

In the eyes of the Mexican Indians the most precious substance known was jade. Therefore, when the Spaniards produced green glass heads, the Indians were as eager for the beads as were the Spaniards for the hatchets. As a result, more than six hundred hatchets changed hands in three days of feverish trading and the Spaniards were sure they had all become rich.

As Bernal Diaz humorously remarked. "In the end it turned out to be an even deal. Both sides were equally cheated and wound up with nothing of value."

While the ships lay in the mouth of the Tonala River, Diaz and other soldiers visited the native town. To escape the swarms of mosquitoes, he related, they slept in a temple atop a high mound....

The coast for many miles on both sides of the mouth of the Tonala River is fringed with a narrow line of sand dunes. Behind these for twenty miles stretches a vast mangrove swamp, for the most part uninhabited by man. Deep in this swamp Nature has formed a sandy island four or five miles in diameter, isolated from all lanes of travel and covered with a dense jungle growth.

Troubles of a Modern Aztec

Fifty years ago, to this lonely spot came Sebastian Torres, an Aztec Indian, with his wife and two young sons....

Sebastian became ambitious and began to grow sugar cane.... Gradually he accumulated a fair sum of money, which he hid in his house.... One night when the moon was full, armed bandits broke into his house, killed his two sons, and took all his accumulated wealth.

...Five years of peaceful existence followed. Then he was again raided by bandits and lost all his possessions.

After this experience Sebastian decided to give up his attempt to accumulate wealth. Now, he says, he and his little clan grow only what they need to eat.

Sebastian's island home was our destination....

After making a few final purchases at Muelle, the last source of supplies, we chugged upstream to the mouth of the Blasillo River.

Acrobatic Monkeys Entertain

This section of the journey is of unusual beauty.... [W]ild life is abundant and we were entertained by troops of monkeys playing in the treetops by the river's side.

After an hour's ride, we reached the point known as Blasillo. Here there were formerly a few native thatched houses, but the site subsequently was abandoned. To our surprise, we found instead a group of newly erected green tents. Upon landing, we were greeted by Engineer Antonio Pliego, of a Mexican oil company, who had pitched camp only two days before and was preparing to prospect for oil.

This was a piece of good fortune for us. The hospitable Mexican cleared out space in his storage tent for our cots, and, instead of sleeping out alone in the jungle, as we had expected, we sat down to a first-class dinner prepared by his Chinese cook.

After an evening of chatting under a big mosquito tent, we were up early the next morning and were furnished with guides and carriers to take us over the trail to La Venta. This trail passes through deep jungle, and it is necessary to wade through wide stretches of swamp. In some of these spots poles have been laid across the trail to provide a somewhat precarious foundation in the seemingly bottomless mud.

In about an hour the ground began to get higher and we found ourselves on dry, sandy soil. Small clearings planted with corn and bananas appeared. In another half hour of fast walking we reached a large clearing on the highest part of the sand island, in which stood the houses of Sebastian Torres and his two sons-in-law with their families.

Sebastian was away on a trip, but his son-in-law, Ubaldo Gonzales, generously offered to vacate one of his houses, and we moved in with our cots and equipment. The natives of La Venta speak Aztec among themselves, but they are able to speak Spanish as well, so we had no difficulty in communicating with them.

Ghosts Dance in the Ruins, Natives Say

Naturally we lost little time in asking questions about the archeological remains. Ubaldo knew the location of several stones, but he said the present inhabitants had never paid much attention to them and many monuments were overgrown with jungle.

We learned also that on fine nights the ghosts of Montezuma and his court come out to dance and sing and conduct ceremonies in the abandoned plazas of the ruins. Though we did not have the good fortune to witness any of these doings, we were soon sufficiently impressed by the ruins themselves.

The first of the stones to which Ubaldo conducted us was an immense altar, carved from basalt, which was one of the objects discovered by Blom's party in 1925. It was an impressive sight, even in its buried condition, and an obvious artistic masterpiece.

Close by, on the opposite side of a long mound, Ubaldo showed us the upper portion of a carved stone which appeared likewise to be one corner of a buried altar. Before long we had seen four of the monuments described by Blom, and several others in addition. We were disappointed, however, that Ubaldo seemed to know nothing of the colossal head, which we were most eager to see.

The central feature of the archeological site at La Venta is a huge pyramidal earth mound, erected on an enormous rectangular base about one hundred yards square, the combined height of the mound and base being approximately one hundred feet.

Just north of this large mound is one of the most interesting features of the site. It consists of a rectangular enclosure, 75 yards long by 50 yards wide, with an additional extension ten yards wide in the direction of the mound. The stones which form this enclosure consist of cylindrical columns, about a foot in diameter and ten feet long, set vertically, with no space between them, so that they constitute a solid stone wall. South of the main mound are three smaller structures, two of which are circular and the third an elongated loaf-shaped mound.

Life-size Figure on an Ancient Altar

The following day we began excavating the first two altars Ubaldo had shown us. Altar 1 is an immense rectangular monolith with a thick tablelike top which projects on all four sides. The overlap on the south end was broken off in ancient times, but otherwise the altar is intact....

Excavating in front of the altar, which has fallen forward at a considerable angle, we encountered a clay floor of mixed burned material. The altar rests on this floor, on top of a foundation of white limestone nodules. At this floor level, about five feet in front of the niche, we encountered 99 large jade beads, 18 of which were cylindrical and 81 round. There was also one bead of amethyst. These were all found in position in the form of necklaces and armlets.

"Quintuplets" Suggest Infant Sacrifice

Altar 2 was almost completely buried. Upon excavation it proved to be similar in form to Altar 1. On the south end are carved in low relief two costumed figures, each carrying an infant. On the north end are two similar figures, also each with an infant in arms.

In front, a seated figure is carved in full relief, as if emerging from the niche. This figure is life-size and holds out in front of him a baby, lying face up in his arms. The principal figure wears a high, decorated, caplike headdress. All the figures on this monument are in excellent condition because the stone has been buried....

This particular altar was artistically the finest object discovered by us, and must rank as one of the best examples of sculpture from aboriginal America. We dubbed the subjects of this stone the "Quintuplets," but it is probable that the real meaning of the composition has a rather grim portent, suggesting infant sacrifice.

One Stela 14 Feet High

From this promising beginning, as the days went by we uncovered stone after stone, but in spite of all our inquiries no one seemed to know of the location of the colossal head. When a week had gone by, we began to fear that in some mysterious manner the object had become lost completely.

There was no opportunity for idleness, however, as our crew was kept busy ten hours a day uncovering the other monuments found. In the middle of the large stone enclosure in front of the big mound, there projected about three feet of a massive circular stone, which leaned forward at a steep angle and had some carving on the under side....

...To our surprise, this immense stela turned out to be 14 feet in height, almost 7 feet in width, and 34 inches in thickness.

When the job was finally completed, however, and no one had been flattened by the stela, we felt that our labors had not been in vain. The low-relief carving on the face of this big monument represents another high point in Middle American art. The figures are executed with a sure and delicate touch, and in many ways have a different flavor from the others on the site.

The composition consists of two human figures, seven feet tall, facing each other and apparently engaged in conversation. Both wear tall and elaborate headdresses. Like all the other headdresses shown at La Venta, these are particularly interesting because they do not make use of the plumes of birds....

Giant Head Emerges from the Earth

While one portion of our crew was excavating this monument, another group had set to work on a large buried stone lying in the dense jungle just west of the main mound. As this appeared to have been originally flat on top, it had undoubtedly been used as an altar. Many trees had to be felled close to the stone, and the stumps removed. The work progressed slowly because of the mat of roots; but once beneath these it went along rapidly, since the soil here was sandy.

As the earth was cleared away, we saw that the altar was a rectangular and conventionalized colossal head looking eastward. The art style of this face is very similar to that on the reverse of the old dated monument from Tres Zapotes. The nose is broad and treated in the same manner. Both sides and the rear of the stone are carved also, the carving on the rear representing the hair....

A hole runs through this colossal head altar, beginning at the left ear and emerging through the center of the mouth. This naturally suggests the possibility that some ancient priest may have spoken into the ear of the great head and his voice been made to appear as if emerging from the mouth of the deity represented....

Finding a Long-lost Great Stone Face

While we were working on this altar, one of the workmen mentioned that he thought he remembered two other stones in the forest near by. I suggested that we go to see them. He had cut his way through the dense growth for not more than fifty yards when we came to a large hemispherical stone almost completely concealed by vines and undergrowth.

I looked at it closely. Lo and behold, here was Blom's colossal head that we had almost given up hope of locating! The eyes were completely covered and it was unrecognizable as part of a head, a fact which may have accounted for the failure of the natives to pay any attention to it....

The colossal head exceeded our best expectations. It proved to be a good two feet higher than the Colossal Head of Tres Zapotes, which is about six feet in height. Very similar in its general appearance, it had the same helmetlike headdress, broad nose, and thick lips. It was carved in the same realistic manner, and one is almost tempted to believe that the same sculptor might have executed both monuments.

Three Other Colossal Heads Discovered

While this work was going on, a small boy who happened to be standing by remarked that he had seen some stones near the new milpa (maize field) his father was working. I went with him to a point in the forest about a half mile away, and one after another he showed me three round projecting stones in a line about thirty yards apart. I felt confident from their appearance that we had here three more colossal heads....

Tortillas on a Mass-production Basis

Corn was the staple food of La Venta and tortillas made by Ubaldo's wife were always available. When our seven workmen, recruited from the sparsely occupied country round about, descended upon Ubaldo, his wife received the added chore of feeding them. She had to get up each morning at about 3 o'clock to prepare enough tortillas for this hungry group.

All the foodstuffs utilized by the community are raised on the spot. Cocoa and coffee are both grown and prepared for use. Bananas and coconuts are raised, besides purple sweet potatoes, manioc, and jicamas, a turniplike root with a refreshing body somewhat like an apple....

A problem arose concerning the method of housing our seven visiting workers overnight, since they were all too far from their own homes to make the trip back and forth daily. They had decided to sleep on a floor of poles laid under the roof covering Ubaldo's pigpen when we bethought ourselves of our small mosquito-proof pup tent. This was only 4 1/2 feet wide, 3 1/2 feet high, and 8 feet long, counting the pointed ends, but we thought it might accommodate two or three of them. We offered it to our workmen for use and they gratefully accepted.

That night we heard a great deal of laughter and stirring about, and early the next morning were amazed to see all seven of them emerging. They admitted that it had been a little crowded and was also a trifle warm, but that, they said, was nothing compared to the discomfort they would have had to suffer if exposed to the mosquitoes. All the rest of the time we stayed at La Venta they continued to sleep like sardines in our little tent....

Our workmen were a cheerful crew and industrious laborers. We worked long hours, but in the middle of each morning and in the middle of the afternoon they took a half hour out to drink posole, a mixture of cornmeal, sugar, and water, which appeared to have a refreshing pick-up effect.

One Head Wears a Beaming Smile

Our last two days at La Venta were busier, if possible, than any of the preceding. We had arranged to meet out launch at Blasillo, and it was necessary to finish our work within the specified time. We still had to complete the excavation of the three newly discovered colossal heads which were to cap the climax of our most interesting period of Mexican excavation.

One by one these heads were brought to light, each different from any of the others. Two of them produced something new in the way of colossal heads by being equipped with teeth.

Four of the five heads that we discovered this season at La Venta, as well as the one previously excavated at Tres Zapotes, were grim and rather forbidding expressions. The fifth and last head uncovered at La Venta showed its appreciation of being exposed by revealing a beaming smile.

Huge Stones Transported 50 Miles

Finally, at the last possible moment, our work was done. All the stones we had been able to locate had been excavated and photographed. In all, 20 sculptured stone monuments had rewarded our efforts, among them several of the finest examples of stone carving ever brought to light in ancient America.

Most of these stones are large and heavy. We were assured by petroleum geologists in the region that no igneous rock of the type from which these monuments were carved exists at any point closer to the site than 50 miles. How were these immense blocks of stone moved this long distance down rivers and across great stretches of swamp to the location where they now rest? Certain it is that the people who accomplished this feat were engineers as well as artists.

From time to time, over a wide area in southern Mexico, there have been discovered carvings in jade and stone exhibiting a curious and easily recognizable art style. The most characteristic of these carvings represent faces of beings which have variously been termed "baby-faced" or "jaguar-faced." Where more realistic treatments are given, they show a round-faced, broad-nosed people with mouths curiously depressed at the corners and exhibiting what appear to be certain infantile characteristics.

The mysterious producers of this class of art have been called the "Olmecs," a people whose origin is as yet very little known. Present archeological evidence indicates that their culture, which in many respects reached a high level, is very early and may well be the basic civilization out of which developed such high art centers as those of the Maya, Zapotecs, Toltecs, and Totonacs.

The site of La Venta is of especial interest in that it appears to present in almost pure form a number of major examples of this art, and it may well be that the builders of this city represented one of the principal centers of the Olmec civization.

What happened to bring about the abandonment of this ancient city? Almost all of the great stone altars and monuments have been broken and mutilated at the cost of considerable effort. This could not have happened by accident; neither is it reasonable that it would have been done by the original makers. It seems plausible to suppose that some conquering group descended upon them and this mutilation represents their efforts to destroy the pagan gods which they found established here.

When it was time to leave, we presented all our kitchen ware and surplus equipment to Ubaldo and his wife as a reward for their hospitality and donated to our workers the picks and shovels with which they had labored. As we loaded our much-diminished supplies, we felt well satisfied with out results, for our labors in a short time had revealed an important new chapter in American prehistory.

At both Cerro de Mesa and La Venta our brief surveys had brought to light many previously unknown monuments. At La Venta, for instance, where only six had been known, we were able to locate twenty.

From Tres Zapotes, scene of our most intensive archeological work, we brought back to Washington 100 cases of stone and pottery objects, many of which are of exquisite workmanship. Together with the 60 cases of material collected by our first expedition, these artifacts are being given careful study. Already it is apparent that they offer clues which will enable us to reconstruct many phases of the life of the mysterious peoples who cultivated the rich lands of southern Mexico, from a time long before the birth of Christ almost to the coming of Columbus.

Source: Stirling, Matthew W. "Great Stone Faces of the Mexican Jungle." National Geographic, September 1940.

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