Remarkably preserved rubber balls, wooden figures, jadeite axes and traces of cacao are among ancient Olmec offerings being brought together in Mexico for the first time in nearly four decades, revealing extraordinary details about religious practices dating back as far as 3,700 years.
The artefacts were recovered from Cerro El Manatí, a sacred archaeological site in Veracruz where generations of Olmec people deposited ceremonial offerings between approximately 1700 and 900 BC.
Now, finds from the site are being reunited for Lords of the Water, Sacred Olmec Spaces, an exhibition opening at the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa on 10 September 2026.
It is the first time since the landmark excavations of February 1988 that material from El Manatí has been presented together in this way. The exhibition also includes objects from the related archaeological sites of La Merced and El Macayal.
A total of 90 archaeological objects will be displayed in an attempt to explore the complex beliefs, ceremonies and relationship with the natural world that characterised one of Mesoamerica's earliest major civilisations.
Organised by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the INAH Veracruz Centre and Universidad Veracruzana, the exhibition will remain open for a year as part of celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa.
Extraordinary Discovery Beneath a Sacred Hill
The story of the discoveries began 38 years ago, when archaeologists Carmen Rodríguez Martínez and Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos travelled to a remote location in the lower Coatzacoalcos River basin, in the municipality of Hidalgotitlán.
Local residents had reported unusual objects emerging around springs at the foot of Cerro El Manatí.
The location immediately attracted archaeological attention. It lies within the Olmec heartland and within the broader sphere of influence of major centres including San Lorenzo and La Venta.
Excavations eventually revealed that the springs had served as a sacred place where offerings were deposited repeatedly over approximately eight centuries.
After constructing a drainage system that allowed archaeologists to work in the waterlogged environment, researchers uncovered an exceptional collection of objects.
They included wooden busts, ceramic vessels, polished stone axes, rubber balls, seeds, infant remains and other organic materials rarely preserved at archaeological sites of such antiquity.
The waterlogged conditions helped protect some of the discoveries for thousands of years.
According to Rodríguez Martínez, research at El Manatí has provided important evidence for understanding Olmec religious traditions, particularly beliefs surrounding sacred mountains, springs, bodies of water and deposits of hematite.
The exhibition uses 3D reconstructions to recreate some of the original archaeological contexts in which the offerings were discovered.
Rubber Balls Survive for Thousands of Years
Some of the earliest known offerings at El Manatí were deposited between approximately 1700 and 1500 BC.
Archaeologists discovered seeds and plant remains among carved stones, including pumpkin, soursop, hog plum, nanche and coapinole. Fragments of ceramic vessels were also recovered, some containing residues identified as cacao.
Other offerings included axes and jadeite beads originating from the Motagua Valley of present-day Guatemala, evidence of connections extending hundreds of kilometres beyond the Olmec heartland.
Among the most extraordinary discoveries were 15 ancient rubber balls.
Six came from the site's oldest deposits and ranged considerably in size, with circumferences of between approximately 10 and 33 centimetres.
Their preservation provides rare physical evidence for the use of rubber in ancient Mesoamerica. A reproduction of one of the balls is included in the Xalapa exhibition.
A subsequent phase of offerings, dated to approximately 1500–1200 BC, appears to have followed a different ritual pattern.
Instead of the diverse materials found in earlier deposits, archaeologists recorded axes placed on a layer of silty clay. They were arranged individually, in pairs and in distinctive flower-like formations.
Mysterious Wooden Figures
The most dramatic offerings appeared during the site's later ceremonial phase, between approximately 1200 and 900 BC.
Archaeologists recovered 20 anthropomorphic figures carved from jobo and ceiba wood.
Their survival is particularly remarkable because untreated wood normally decomposes over archaeological timescales.
Some of the figures had been covered with specular hematite, a reflective iron mineral, or deposited alongside fragments of it. Others were associated with staffs, bunches of flowers and human infant remains, particularly jawbones and long bones.
The unusual combination of human representations, minerals, plants, water and human remains has provided archaeologists with an exceptionally detailed glimpse into Olmec ritual behaviour.
Rather than representing a single ceremonial event, the discoveries indicate that people repeatedly returned to Cerro El Manatí over many centuries to make offerings.
Researchers believe the landscape itself — particularly the hill, its springs and surrounding water — was central to the site's sacred significance.
Ortiz Ceballos said the objects deposited at Cerro El Manatí, as well as at La Merced and El Macayal, formed part of ceremonies concerned with maintaining humanity, fertility and the balance of the world.
Some of those concepts, he added, retain symbolic significance among Indigenous communities today.
Curated by Rodríguez Martínez and Ortiz Ceballos, who direct the El Manatí-La Merced research project, Lords of the Water, Sacred Olmec Spaces offers visitors a rare opportunity to see material associated with one of the most remarkable ritual sites discovered from early Mesoamerica.
The exhibition opens at the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa on 10 September and is scheduled to remain on display for a year.
Header Image Credit : Ponciano Ortiz
Sources : INAH