Homo Erectus in the coastal marshes of Tabasco State, Mexico?

The Peopling of Eastern North America Series

These are color slides that I took in mid-August 1970, the day after I said goodbye to Ana Rojas in Campeche City. The statue was near an “Olmec” Civilization town, built on an island in the tidal marshes of Tabasco State. The island was later occupied by a Chontal Maya village, which built modest mounds, similar to those in the Southeastern United States.

As you can see, the landscape is identical to the tidal marshes between Beaufort, SC and St. Marys, GA. The captive has a robust hominid torso . . . with no tail as all American monkeys have. These images have NOT been “photo-shopped.”

Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

I apologize that these 54 year-old-slides are not in the best of condition . . . but hey, it is a miracle that both they and I still exist, considering what I have been through since December 21, 2009.

View of Tabasco marshes from the deck of a small ferry

Close-up view of tidal marshes at edge of the island

Fresh water pond near the location of the statue – Cumberland Island, GA has similar ponds.

The statue was in a small clearing in the jungle with no signs. It is my understanding that in the 1990s, it was moved to a museum in Villahermosa, Tabasco, where it can be more easily seen by regular tourists. Most tourists are not a bull-headed, 21 year old Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech, who was eager to tromp, where few men had gone before. LOL

The statue has become quite controversial after public exposure, since it does not portray a Homo Sapiens with typical Indigenous American features. However, mainstream archaeologists still refuse to admit the possibility that the millions of animals that crossed back and forth across the Bering Land Bridge over the past two million years were followed by primitive hominids.