The Olmec head transport problem

Record summary

The movement and placement of Olmec colossal heads remained a prominent archaeological puzzle during mid-century research. Their basalt was quarried far from several display locations, raising questions about transport, labor organization and political authority. Popular accounts sometimes turned the problem into evidence for lost technology, whereas experimental and landscape studies have explored rafts, rollers, manpower and river routes. This lead supports comparison of engineering hypotheses with geological sourcing and settlement archaeology, while the exact routes and labor systems remain uncertain.