What kinds of monuments did the Olmec build at San Lorenzo and La Venta?

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The Olmec were master sculptors who constructed significant ceremonial centers at San Lorenzo and La Venta. Their architectural and artistic legacy includes:

San Lorenzo

As the oldest known Olmec center, San Lorenzo featured a plateau modified by human labor, including the construction of long ridges and approximately 200 small mounds that supported pole-and-thatch dwellings. The site is most famous for its extraordinary basalt monuments, most notably the "colossal heads"—massive human portraits wearing helmetlike headgear, which may represent rulers or players of a ritual rubber-ball game.12

La Venta

La Venta became the most important Mesoamerican settlement between 800 and 400 BCE. Its monuments include:34
* The Great Mound: A 100-foot-high fluted cone of earth and clay, potentially housing a ruler's tomb.34
* Ceremonial Enclosures: A plaza flanked by long mounds and an enclosure surrounded by a fence of upright columnar basalt shafts.4
* Mosaic Pavements: Elaborate jaguar masks made of stone, which were deliberately buried.3
* Sculptures: Continued production of colossal heads and "altars," as well as an increase in stelae and relief carvings depicting historical or contemporary scenes.4