Mug Shot — «Villahermosa - Olmec Colossal Head»

City: Villahermosa Country: Mexico Edition: 2008 Icon Edition Belongs to: 314 users (19 trading, 218 seeking)

Villahermosa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and the municipal seat of the Centro municipality. The city is located at 863 kilometers from Mexico City, and 998 kilometers from Cancún, making it the virtual equidistant stopover point between these two world-renowned centers of tourism. Founded officially on 24 June 1564 by the Spanish Diego de Quijada on the banks of the Grijalva River under the name of Villa Hermosa, in 1826 the village was raised to the rank of city under the name of San Juan Bautista de la Villa Hermosa. The Republic of Texas Navy captured the city on November 20, 1840, demanding $25,000 in silver. The city was captured and occupied by U.S. forces after the battle of Tabasco during the Mexican-American War. During the French intervention in Mexico, French troops occupied the city in 1863. In 1916, the governor of Tabasco, Francisco J. Múgica, ordered the restoration of the city's name to Villahermosa. Today Villahermosa is a modern city in southeast Mexico and, possibly only after Mérida, Yucatán, it is the most important business and commercial point in the long stretch between Mexico City and Cancún.

Olmec colossal heads are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Seventeen confirmed examples of stone heads are known, all from within the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Most colossal heads were sculpted from spherical boulders but two from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán were recarved from massive stone thrones. An additional monument, at Takalik Abaj in Guatemala, is a throne that may have been carved from a colossal head. This is the only known example outside the Olmec heartland. Dating of the monuments has proven difficult due to the movement of many from their original context. Most of the heads have been dated to the Early Preclassic (1500–1000 BC) and some to the Middle Preclassic (1000–400 BC). The smallest examples weigh 6 tons, while the largest is variously estimated to weigh 40 to 50 tons, although this was abandoned unfinished near to the source of its stone. Olmec colossal heads were sculpted from large basalt boulders quarried in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz. They were transported over large distances, although the method used for transportation is not clear. Finished momuments represented lifelike portraits of individual Olmec rulers, each wearing a distinctive headdress, and heads were variously arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centres. All of the Olmec colossal heads depict mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses and eyes that tend to be slightly crossed. The general physical characteristics of the heads are of a type that is still common among people in Tabasco and Veracruz in modern times. The backs of the heads are often flat.

photo by lucky
edited by mobydick74

  Villahermosa, Mexico

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