Olmec

The Olmec civilization of south-central Mexico dates from approximately 1500 to 400 BCE. The Olmecs were skilled artisans and craftsmen, well known for their stone statues, jade masks, and colossal heads. Olmec means "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and may refer to the Mesoamerican ballgames believed to have been played by Olmec people or to the latex extracted from rubber plants. The Olmec were one of the first cultures to use written language.