La Venta, the Olmec capital
A clay pyramid and colossal heads on an island amid marshes
After San Lorenzo declined, La Venta, on an island amid marshes near the Gulf of Mexico, became the main Olmec centre around 900–400 BC. Its builders raised a clay pyramid about 30 metres high, set up colossal stone heads and buried mosaic pavements of serpentine. Many of its monuments now stand in a park museum in Villahermosa.