Site · Mexico
La Venta
Olmec, 900–400 BCE
La Venta is the Olmec centre on an island in the Tabasco swamps that succeeded San Lorenzo, flourishing from about 900 to 400 BCE. Its monuments were moved to Villahermosa in the 1950s to protect them from oil development.
| Country | Mexico |
|---|---|
| State / province | Tabasco |
| Dates | 900–400 BCE |
| Status | Archaeological zone; monuments relocated to a park-museum in Villahermosa |
| Managed by | Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) |
| Access | The site is open with a small museum; the colossal heads and altars are displayed at Parque-Museo La Venta |
| Coordinates | 18.104, -94.041 (public site) |
What was found
Excavations recovered four colossal basalt heads, altars, stelae, massive serpentine offerings, jade celt caches, the Offering 4 group of jade figurines and the mosaic pavements. The Great Pyramid is a clay mound over thirty metres high.
Rules
Nothing may be collected, dug, moved or removed at La Venta; it is a protected archaeological site managed by Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), and taking artifacts, stones or samples is an offence. All pre-Hispanic remains are property of the Mexican nation under the 1972 federal monuments law, and export is prohibited. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.
Elsewhere
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "La Venta" (Site). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/sites/la-venta. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-la-venta,
title = {La Venta},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/sites/la-venta}},
year = {2026},
note = {Site article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.