Unloading Olmec Head at Entrance of National Museum of Natural History

Summary

Riggers unload a five-ton stone Olmec head (1000-800 B.C.) at the Mall entrance of the National Museum of Natural History. A special steel-frame platform was constructed to hold the sculpture. The Olmec head was discovered in 1946 by Smithsonian anthropologist Dr. Matthew W. Sterling at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Veracruz. The sculpture is part of the exhibit "Treasures of Mexico: From the Mexican National Museum."

Subject

• National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
• National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Dept. of Anthropology

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

Featured in TORCH, April 1978

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 371 Box 2 Folder April 1978

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1978

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Artifacts
• Archaeology
• Treasures of Mexico: From the Mexican National Museum (Exhibition)
• Moving of artifacts
• Sculpture
• Sterling, Matthew W
• Exhibitions
• Anthropology
• Olmec
• Event

Place

Mexico

Form/Genre

Photographic print

ID Number

94-2877

Physical description

Color: Black and White; Size: 7 1/4w x 7 1/4h; Type of Image: Event; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

View Full Record