Tres Zapotes occupation and monumental stelae (c. 900 BCE–100 CE)

1. Village founding at Tres Zapotes begins

   Jan 1, 1000 BCELabels: Tres Zapotes, Village

   • Oxford HB
   • Wiki

2. Emergence as a Middle Formative regional center

   Jan 1, 900 BCELabels: Tres Zapotes, Olmec regional

   • Oxford HB
   • Wiki

3. Earliest known public architecture at the site

   Jan 1, 500 BCELabels: Public architecture, Tres Zapotes

   • Wiki
   • Oxford HB

4. Olmec tradition persists after La Venta’s fall

   Jan 1, 400 BCELabels: La Venta, Tres Zapotes

   • Britannica

5. Late Formative fluorescence as an Epi-Olmec center

   Jan 1, 400 BCELabels: Epi-Olmec, Tres Zapotes

   • Oxford HB
   • Wiki

6. Long Count date carved on Stela C

   Jan 1, 31 BCELabels: Stela C, Long Count

   • Britannica
   • Wiki

7. First Olmec colossal head found near Tres Zapotes

   Jan 1, 1862Labels: Colossal head, Monument A

   • Wiki
   • Wiki Heads

8. Stirling begins professional excavations at Tres Zapotes

   Jan 1, 1938Labels: Matthew Stirling, Excavation

   • Wiki Stirling
   • Wiki

9. Stela C’s inscribed fragment discovered in excavations

   Jan 1, 1939Labels: Stela C, Excavation find

   • Wiki Stirling
   • Nature

10. Stirling’s 1939 Tres Zapotes expedition documented

    Apr 2, 1939Labels: Smithsonian Archives, Stirling expedition

    • SIA

11. Long Count date on Stela C confirmed by missing fragment

    Jan 1, 1970Labels: Stela C, Long Count

    • Wiki Stirling

12. Recent synthesis re-assesses Tres Zapotes’ long trajectory

    Nov 19, 2025Labels: Scholarly synthesis, Tres Zapotes

    • Oxford HB