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History of the United States I / Unit 1   USH1 0004 short lesson, about 20 seconds

The Olmec

Captions available

The idea

The Olmec flourished on Mexico's Gulf Coast from about twelve hundred to four hundred BCE, carving giant heads up to fifty tons and building the pyramid at La Venta.

In practice

Aqueducts carrying water into cities and irrigating the fields.

Where people slip

After four hundred BCE the jungle reclaimed the cities, yet the Olmec remain the cultural foundation for Maya and Aztec.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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