Aztec and Maya civilizations are household names – but it's the Olmecs who are the 'mother culture' of ancient Mesoamerica

Olmec culture deeply shaped later Mesoamerican civilizations like the Aztecs. Danny Lehman/The Image Bank via Getty Images

An extremely important 1-ton sculpture, sometimes referred to by archaeologists as an “Earth Monster” or Monument 9, was repatriated to Mexico from a private collection in Colorado in May 2023, according to an announcement from Mexico’s Consul General in New York. The monument features the head of a front-facing creature with a gaping mouth: a supernatural being that represented the living, animate earth to an ancient culture in Central America and Mexico.