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A map of the Olmec heartland. The yellow sites are known Olmec villages and towns. The smaller red dots mark locations where artifacts or art have been found unassociated with habitation. The river courses and shorelines are modern, as are the names (since we do not know the names the Olmecs used).

The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest. It is today, as it was during the height of the Olmec civilization, a tropical lowland forest environment, crossed by meandering rivers.

The Olmec heartland was the home of the Olmec culture, which became widespread over Mesoamerica from about 1400 BCE until roughly 400 BCE.

The major heartland sites are:

• San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
• La Venta
• Tres Zapotes
• Laguna de los Cerros - the least researched and least important of the major sites.

Smaller sites include:

• El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog.
• El Azuzul, on the southern edge of the San Lorenzo area.
• San Andrés, near La Venta.

Important heartland finds not associated with any archaeological site include:

• "The Wrestler", a basalt statue found at Arroyo Sonso.
• Las Limas Monument 1, found by two children looking for somewhere to crack nuts.
• San Martín Pajapan Monument 1, found high on the slopes of San Martin Pajapan.

Note: This is another version of Image:Olmec Heartland Overview v2.svg

Part of a series:

• 
  Formative Period sites in Central Mexico
• 
  Formative Period sites in Southeastern Mesoamerica
• 
  Map of the Olmec Heartland
• 
  Classic era sites in Central Mexico
• 
  Site with early evidence for ballplaying
• 
  Western Mexico archaeological sites

• English version here
• Portuguese version here

• Arnold III, Philip J. (2002) Location of Isla Agaltepec in the Tuxtla Mountains, Veracruz, Mexico., in "Isla Agaltepec: Postclassic Occupation in the Tuxtla Mountains, Veracruz, México", accessed June 2007 (for elevations).
• Coe, Michael; Snow, Dean; Benson, Elizabeth; (1986) Atlas of Ancient America; Facts on File, New York, pp. 94-95, (for the locations of the sites).
• Diehl, Richard A. (2004) The Olmecs: America's First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London, p.12.
• Rodríguez Martínez, Ma. del Carmen;Ortíz Ceballos, Ponciano; Coe, Michael D.; Diehl, Richard A.; Houston, Stephen D.; Taube, Karl A.; Calderón, Alfredo Delgado (2006) "Oldest Writing in the New World" in Science, Vol. 313. no. 5793, pp. 1610-1614 (for location of Cascajal).
• Pool, Christopher A. (2007) Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 978-0-521-78882-3. (for location of Cobata and Llano del Jicaro)

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