Archaeologists pretty generally agree the Olmecs were the foundational society for other Mesoamerican cultures including Teotihuacan and the Maya. There are definite proofs of Mayan contact with Teotihuacan. Contacts from Mesoamerica to places further south in Peru, etc. seem a given to me but I don't have any links.
Someone brought up the Roman arch. It's hard to know all the construction techniques of the Olmecs because they built mostly out of wood which hasn't survived. The Maya used the corbel-vaulted arch instead of a keystone arch, which allowed them to build solid-roofed buildings and burial chambers. Some scholars speculate there was nearly continuous evolution of the Olmec into the Mayan culture. There's still a whole lot of diggin' left to do down there.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/meso_america/la_venta.html
"La Venta was inhabited by people of the Olmec Culture from around 800 BC to about 400 BC after which the site seems to have been abandoned."
A pic of the largest of the Caral "pyramids" -- looks more like the oppida of the Celts (adapted, natural hillocks):
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/images/perupiramidemayor.jpg