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Location: Monument 22 was found by a local inhabitant, Modesto Palma, in the north plaza of Mound Group 1 in 1970 and was placed in the site museum at its inauguration in 1975.
Associations: None recorded.
Condition: Well preserved fragment.
Photographs: Present report, Plate 30.
Drawings: Present report, Figure 29.
Carved Areas: Sculpture in the round.
Material: This monument was found subsequent to Williams' work. However, there is nothing about it to suggest that its material is any different than that of Monument 1.
Dimensions: Height 44 cm, Width 55 cm, Depth 35 cm.
Description: Monument 22 is a loaf-shaped fragment of a little known colossal head type. The relief carving on the curving outer surface represents the left temple and most of the left ear of a large columnar head. A raised band, which probably continued to circle the entire face, is reduced by breakage to an arc above the right eye. Attached to the upper edge of the band is an undulating element with three incised lines in the distal end. At the break near the middle of the forehead is the remnant of another element which probably had a central tab. The ear is uncommonly naturalistic and has an elongated lobe that is pierced twice.
Remarks: Kubler has observed that "Two sharply contrasting modes of sculpture appear on the Olmec sites. One tradition, represented by the mosaic floor [at La Venta], approaches cipher-like abstraction. The other, exemplified by the colossal heads, is a tradition of veristic sculpture leading to the most faithful possible transposition of appearances" (Kubler 1962:66). The columnar head form of Monument 22 represents the Olmec tradition of interest in unnatural forms which is quit distinct from the naturalistic focus of Cerro el Vigia Head 1 and Tres Zapotes Head 2. Similar columnar heads are known from the sites of Abaj Takalik, San Miguel, Tiltepec, and La Venta.
