music narrator the thousand yearsgo in souern mexico, an unprecedent culture flourished in the jungle nearhe gulf coast. Rivers meandering through the hot, tropical lowlands were the regions lifeblood. Theswaterwayfor transporon and trade enuraged agriculture. Annual floods left deposits of fertile soil, ideal for growing maize, squash and beans. More than two thousand years later, the aztecs called this region olman, or rubber country, the name of the peoples. Who dwelled there in antiquity is lost, but they have become known as olmec. To express their political and religious beliefs, the ancient olmec invented imagery of spellbinding power. They carved monumental sculptures from volcanic rock without mel tools, using hammers and chisels ma ostone. They transported massive blocks of basalt, weighi up to 20 ns, across miles of teory thout benefit of the wel. They built the First Pyramid in the americas, rising 100 feet an of ren the half millionubic ft ofpa e they fasoned delicate, and