What can you tell me about the olmecs?

What can you tell me about the olmecs?
what's the general concensus here about them?

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They were among the early cultures of Mesoamérica, perhaps not the 'mother culture', but they had contemporaries who were on par with them like the Zapotecs and Tlatilco. But still they are generally regarded as the 'sumerians' of Mesoamerica. Their ethnicity is still debated but believed to be among the Mixe-Zoquean groups, probably Zoque. The name Olmec means rubber people, and it is not what they called themselves, this is a Nahuatl term, a language they did not speak. The origins of their civilization go back to around 1600-1400 BC, but farming in the área goes back to at least 5100-4600 BC. The cultural área where Olmec civilization came from was in the Gulf coast of South and Central Mexico. But their influence extended into the Pacific coasts Isthmus of Tehuantepec región, into the Valley of Mexico and into Guatemala and El Salvador.

They was kangz n sheeut.

It's known that they were once united under a man named King Wewuz who is believed to have came from West Africa, thus the unusual appearence of the stone heads when compared to Mexican people.

They are regarded as one of the six cradles of Civilizations. They built Mesoamerica's first cities and were among its first conquerors, making them a rival power to the Zapotecs of Monte Alban. Their principal ancient cities are La Venta, San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes. We do not know the original names of these place unfortunately since we still do not know their language with certainty and have only been able to decipher part of the glyphs writing system. Among the Olmecs we see some of the earliest depictions of popular Mesoamerican deities like Quetzalcóatl. Possibly the rain Gods came from a kind of were-jaguar god. Olmecs seemed to have an obsession with infants, we know they practiced cranial deformation like the Maya later would, and jaguar-baby like hybrids were common memes. The human and animal (which included birds and sharks also) may be a reference to shamanism. And of course their colosal heads which some pseudo-archeologists will claim were west africans even though these features are not uncommon on natives of this área. We don't know who these figures are. They may be portraits of rulers wearing ballgame headgear or ancestors of important families. Their principal cultivations were cacao and maize. which they also sometimes made into drinks.

The Aztecs also used to collect Olmec artifacts as sort of antiques. Their artwork is really neat though.

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