Olmec · 1200-400 BC

The Olmec: giant heads on the Gulf Coast

On the hot, wet Gulf Coast of Mexico, the Olmec carved colossal stone heads and built the first great centres of Mesoamerica. Students explore San Lorenzo and La Venta and debate whether the Olmec were a "mother culture".

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 1000 BC to 400 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

On the hot, wet Gulf Coast of Mexico, the Olmec carved colossal stone heads and built the first great centres of Mesoamerica. Students explore San Lorenzo and La Venta and debate whether the Olmec were a "mother culture".

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Olmec heartland and its centres San Lorenzo and La Venta on the map.
  • Describe the colossal heads and what they probably show.
  • Explain the debate about whether the Olmec were the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

1000 BC

The Olmec heartland

Open the map in 1000 BC on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Find the area labelled Olmec. Look at the rivers and the coast: why was this a good place to grow food?

Open this view on the map
b

1000 BC

Stone from the mountains

Zoom in on the Tuxtla Mountains, north-west of San Lorenzo. The basalt for the colossal heads came from here. How could blocks of many tons be moved without wheels or pack animals?

Open this view on the map
c

400 BC

Neighbours

Jump to 400 BC and zoom out over southern Mexico. Which new name appears south-west of the Olmec? The Zapotec of Oaxaca were building their own civilisation at the same time.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The name "Olmec" was given by the Aztecs many centuries later. Why do we not know what the Olmec called themselves?
  2. The colossal heads weigh many tons. What does moving them tell you about Olmec society?
  3. Some of the oldest rubber balls in the world were found in the Olmec region. What were they probably used for?
  4. Why might later peoples in Mesoamerica copy Olmec art and symbols?
  5. Was the Olmec world a "mother culture" or one of several "sister cultures"? What evidence would you look for?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Ramesses II, who ruled Egypt as San Lorenzo rose on the Gulf Coast. Afterwards, compare: Ramesses carved his name on temples, while Olmec rulers left giant portraits but no names we can read. What does each choice tell us about power?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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