settled Central America... </SARCASM>
settled Central America... </SARCASM>
This Olmec head was at least 1,000 BC or earlier. I read somewhere that ancient Mediterranean seafarers used African mercenaries as fighters. The poorly documented “Sea Peoples” were active around the same period as the Olmec heads were made. My theory is that somehow some ships landed in the new world, and either were stuck here by storm or ship rot, or the mercenaries overthrew their lords and masters, and took over the Olmec area. This was also an era when huge carvings of leaders were being made on the Nile River like the ones at Abu Simbel of Ramases, so if these settlers were familiar with that artistic/power trend the huge heads make sense. At any rate there was a significant advancement of Olmec culture at this time which could have been sparked by Afro/European invaders/settlers.