 In the late nineteenth century , José Melgar y Serrano described a colossal head as having " Ethiopian " features and speculations that the Olmec had African origins resurfaced in 1960 in the work of Alfonso Medellín Zenil and in the 1970s in the writings of Ivan van Sertima . Such speculation is not taken seriously by Mesoamerican scholars such as Richard Diehl and Ann Cyphers . 
 In the late nineteenth century , José Melgar y Serrano described a colossal head as having " Ethiopian " features and speculations <a href='null_relcl' title='1'><mark>that</mark></a>the Olmec had African origins resurfaced in 1960 in the work of Alfonso Medellín Zenil and in the 1970s in the writings of Ivan van Sertima . Such speculation is not taken seriously by Mesoamerican scholars such as Richard Diehl and Ann Cyphers . 
In the late nineteenth century , José Melgar y Serrano described a colossal head as having " Ethiopian " features and speculations the Olmec had African origins resurfaced in 1960 in the work of Alfonso Medellín Zenil and in the 1970s in da writings of Ivan van Sertima . Such speculation ain't taken srsly by Mesoamerican scholars such as Richard Diehl and Ann Cyphers .