Olmec colossal heads

(noun)

Basalt sculptures of human faces wearing large helmeted headdresses that stand up to 3.4 meters high. These sculptures most likely represent important rulers.

Related Terms

Examples of Olmec colossal heads in the following topics:

  • The Olmec

    • The most striking art left behind by this culture are the Olmec colossal heads.
    • The discovery of a colossal head at Tres Zapotes in the 19th century spurred the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture by Matthew Stirling in 1938.
    • Most colossal heads were sculpted from spherical boulders, but two from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán were re-carved from massive stone thrones.
    • An additional monument, at Takalik Abaj in Guatemala, is a throne that may have been carved from a colossal head.
    • This sculpture is typical of the colossal heads of the Olmec.

  • The Maya People

    • It contained a masonry fragment strongly resembling a head in the distinctive Olmec style.
    • During this period, the Olmec culture reached its zenith, centered around the capital of La Venta in modern-day Tabasco near the early Maya centers.
    • Speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language, the Olmec are generally recognized as the first true civilization in the Americas.
    • Their capital city of La Venta contains extensive earthworks and stone monuments, including several of the distinctive Olmec stone heads.
    • Several words entered Mayan from a Mixe–Zoquean language, presumably due to Olmec influence.

  • Ancient Egyptian Art

    • Figures are shown with the torso facing front, the head in side view, and the legs parted, with males sometimes darker than females.
    • Colossal sculpture on the scale of the Great Sphinx of Giza was not repeated, but smaller sphinxes and animals were found in temple complexes.
    • These were often made of wood, and were called reserve heads, which were plain, hairless and naturalistic.

  • The Triumphs of Tsarina Elizabeth I

    • This triumph was credited to the diplomatic ability of the new vice chancellor, Aleksey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the head of foreign affairs.
    • During the reign of Elizabeth, Rastrelli, still working to his original plan, devised an entirely new scheme in 1753, on a colossal scale—the present Winter Palace.

  • Dunkirk and Vichy France

    • In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the events in France "a colossal military disaster," saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured.
    • Vichy France is the common name of the French State headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II.