 The two heads at Tres Zapotes , with the La Cobata head , are stylistically distinct from the other known examples . Beatriz de la Fuente views them as a late regional survival of an older tradition while other scholars argue that they are merely the kind of regional variant to be expected in a frontier settlement . These heads are sculpted with relatively simple headdresses ; they have squat , wide proportions and distinctive facial features . The two Tres Zapotes heads are the earliest known stone monuments from the site . The discovery of one of the Tres Zapotes heads in the nineteenth century led to the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture , carried out by Matthew Stirling in 1938 . 
 The two heads at Tres Zapotes , with the La Cobata head , <a href='drop_aux' title='1'><mark>are</mark></a>stylistically distinct from the other known examples . Beatriz de la Fuente <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>views</mark></a> them as a late regional survival of an older tradition while other scholars argue that they are merely the kind of regional variant to be expected in a frontier settlement . These heads are sculpted with relatively simple headdresses ; they <a href='got' title='3'><mark>have</mark></a> squat , wide proportions and distinctive facial features . The two Tres Zapotes heads <a href='drop_aux' title='4'><mark>are</mark></a>the earliest known stone monuments from the site . The discovery of one of the Tres Zapotes heads in the nineteenth century led to the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture , carried out by Matthew Stirling in 1938 . 
Da two heads at Tres Zapotes , with tdaLa Cobata head , stylistically distinct from thdather known examples . Beatriz de la Fuente view them as a late regional survival of an older tradition while other scholars argue dat they r merely the kind of regional variant to b expected in a frontier settlement . These heads arrculpted wit relatively simple headdresses ; they got squat , wide proportions and distinctive facial features . Thedao Tres Zapotes heads the earliest known stone monuments from the site . The discovery of one of the das Zapotes heads in the nineteenth century led to the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture , carried out by Matthew Stirling in 1938 .