stylistic:style_transfer, structural:reformatting
La Cobata

The La Cobata region was the source of the basalt used for carving all of the colossal heads in the Olmec heartland. The La Cobata colossal head was discovered in 1970 and was the fifteenth to be recorded. It was discovered in a mountain pass in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, on the north side of El Vigia volcano near to Santiago Tuxtla. The head was largely buried when found; excavations uncovered a Late Classic (600–900 AD) offering associated with the head consisting of a ceramic vessel and a 12-centimetre (4.7 in) long obsidian knife placed pointing northwards towards the head. The offering is believed to have been deposited long after the head was sculpted. The La Cobata head has been moved from its original location to the main plaza at Santiago.

The La Cobata head is more or less rounded and measures 3 by 3 metres (9.8 by 9.8 ft) by 3.4 metres (11 ft) high, making it the largest known head. This massive sculpture is estimated to weigh 40 tons. It is stylistically distinct from the other examples, and Beatriz de la Fuente placed it late in the Olmec time frame. The characteristics of the sculpture have led to some investigators suggesting that it represents a deceased person. Norman Hammond argues that the apparent stylistic differences of the monument stem from its unfinished state rather than its late production. The eyes of the monument are closed, the nose is flattened and lacks nostrils and the mouth was not sculpted in a realistic manner. The headdress is in the form of a plain horizontal band.

The original location of the La Cobata head was not a major archaeological site and it is likely that the head was either abandoned at its source or during transport to its intended destination. Various features of the head suggest that it was unfinished, such as a lack of symmetry below the mouth and an area of rough stone above the base. Rock was not removed from around the earspools as on other heads, and does not narrow towards the base. Large parts of the monument seem to be roughed out without finished detail. The right hand earspool also appears incomplete; the forward portion is marked with a sculpted line while the rear portion has been sculpted in relief, probably indicating that the right cheek and eye area were also unfinished. The La Cobata head was almost certainly carved from a raw boulder rather than being sculpted from a throne.