Discovering the Olmecs

"This is a marvelously engaging introduction to Olmec civilization that has something to offer the novice and expert alike... There is no other book on the market resembling it that traces the history of Olmec studies through the people who did the field work, the discoveries they made, and the publications they produced. The chapters are short and blend discoveries of mounds and monuments with local community relations, which results in fast-moving and engaging reading." -- Robert M. Rosenswig, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University at Albany-SUNY, and author of The Beginnings of Mesoamerican Civilization: Inter-Regional Interaction and the Olmec "This book tells the tales of fieldwork that are commonly left out of formal academic discourse, and it explains what was done in terms of the real-time messy experience, rather than a false retrospective coherence... I enjoyed reading this book because of the vividness of the accounts and the insights into the people who shaped the field [of Olmec studies]." -- Michael Love, Professor of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge, and author of Early Complex Society in Pacific Guatemala: Settlements and Chronology of the Rio Naranjo, Guatemala

This lively history of seven decades of archaeological exploration in the Olmec region of Mexico tells the fascinating backstory of how archaeological discoveries are made while offering an exceptional overview of this ancient civilization.

The Olmecs are renowned for their massive carved stone heads and other sculptures, the first stone monuments produced in Mesoamerica. Seven decades of archaeological research have given us many insights into the lifeways of the Olmecs, who inhabited parts of the modern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from around 1150 to 400 BC, and there are several good books that summarize the current interpretations of Olmec prehistory. But these formal studies don’t describe the field experiences of the archaeologists who made the discoveries. What was it like to endure the Olmec region’s heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and ticks to bring that ancient society to light? How did unforeseen events and luck alter carefully planned research programs and the conclusions drawn from them? And, importantly, how did local communities and individuals react to the research projects and discoveries in their territories?

In this engaging book, a leading expert on the Olmecs tells those stories from his own experiences and those of his predecessors, colleagues, and students. Beginning with the first modern explorations in the 1920s, David Grove recounts how generations of archaeologists and local residents have uncovered the Olmec past and pieced together a portrait of this ancient civilization that left no written records. The stories are full of fortuitous discoveries and frustrating disappointments, helpful collaborations and deceitful shenanigans. What emerges is an unconventional history of Olmec archaeology, a lively introduction to archaeological fieldwork, and an exceptional overview of all that we currently know about the Olmecs.