The Olmec colossal heads are at least 17 monumental stone representations of human 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, a mountain range in Veracruz. It is thought that the 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. 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 period (1000–400 BC).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec_colossal_heads

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1363:

Red Turban Rebellions: The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang won the Battle of Lake Poyang by deploying ships intentionally set aflame when the emperor tried to escape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Poyang

1918:

An ammunition plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, U.S., exploded, killing around 100 people and destroying more than 300 buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._A._Gillespie_Company_Shell_Loading_Plant_explosion

1957:

The Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

2003:

A suicide bomber killed 21 people, including a two-month-old baby, and injured 60 others inside a restaurant in Haifa, Israel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_restaurant_suicide_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

pomace: 1. The pulp or pulplike matter remaining from a substance pressed to extract its juice or oil. 2. Such residue from apples used in the process of cidermaking; also, a mass of crushed apples before the juice is pressed out. 3. Such residue from grapes used in winemaking. 4. (historical) Such residue (especially castor bean cake or fish scrap) used as fertilizer. 5. (UK, regional, archaic) Synonym of pulp (“a soft, moist mass formed by mashing something”) 6. (by extension, obsolete) Sheep offal. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pomace

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Watch his mind as it contemplates a hostile universe whose violent whims Buster understands, withstands and, miraculously, tames. Watch his camera taking his picture (Keaton directed or supervised all his best films); it is as cool as the star it captured in its glass... The medium was still in its infancy; comics were pioneering the craft of making people laugh at moving images. Keaton, it turns out, knew it all — intuitively.   --Richard Corliss https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Corliss