The Olmec colossal heads consist of at least seventeen monumental stone representations of human male heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. The heads date from at least before 900 BC and are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. All portray mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses and slightly crossed eyes; their physical characteristics correspond to a type that is still common among the inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz. The boulders were brought from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz; given that the extremely large slabs of stone used in their production were transported over large distances, presumably involving a great deal of people and resources, it is thought that finished monuments represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec rulers; each is given a distinctive headdress. The heads were variously arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centres, but the method and logistics used to transport the stone to these sites remain unclear. The discovery of a colossal head at Tres Zapotes in the 19th century spurred the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture by Matthew Stirling in 1938. Dating the monuments remains difficult due to the movement of many from their original context prior to archaeological investigation. Most have been dated to the Early Preclassic period (1500–1000 BC) with some to the Middle Preclassic (1000–400 BC) period.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec_colossal_heads
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1305:
After a show trial, William Wallace (pictured), leader of the Scottish resistance against England during the Wars of Scottish Independence, was executed in London's Smithfield Market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace
1572:
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, a wave of Catholic mob violence against the Huguenots, began, lasting for several months and resulting in an estimated tens of thousands deaths across France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre
1839:
As it prepared for war against China's Qing Dynasty, an ensuing conflict that became known as the First Opium War, Britain captured the port of Hong Kong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War
1943:
World War II: The decisive Soviet victory in the Battle of Kursk gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk
2006:
Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of 10 in Vienna, escaped from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil after eight years in captivity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natascha_Kampusch
2007:
The skeletal remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Anastasia were found near Yekaterinburg, Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikolaevna_of_Russia
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
malleate: To beat into shape with a hammer. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malleate
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it. --Arnold Toynbee https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arnold_Toynbee