chiefdom · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Tres Zapotes

900 BCE – 300 CE (approx.) · capital Tres Zapotes

A long-lived Olmec and Epi-Olmec centre in the Tuxtla region, whose Stela C bears one of the oldest Long Count calendar dates in the Americas.

Origins

Tres Zapotes grew on the western edge of the Tuxtla Mountains in southern Veracruz around 900 BCE, during the Olmec period. Unlike San Lorenzo and La Venta, it survived the wider Olmec decline after 400 BCE and continued as a regional centre for centuries.

Rule and society

The site has two colossal heads from its Olmec phase. In the following Epi-Olmec period, power seems to have been shared among several groups whose plazas were spread across the settlement rather than held by a single ruler. Stela C carries a Long Count date equivalent to 32 BCE, and the site illuminates the transition from Olmec to later writing and calendar traditions.

Decline and legacy

Tres Zapotes declined by about 300 CE, though the area remained inhabited. Its inscriptions are key evidence that the Long Count and early writing developed in the Gulf Coast before their flowering among the Maya.

More states of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tres Zapotes. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tres-zapotes
MLA
“Tres Zapotes.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tres-zapotes. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tres Zapotes.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tres-zapotes.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tres Zapotes’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tres-zapotes (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻