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An exciting recent find (2006) is the Cascajal block found near San Lorenzo, Veracruz, in Mexico. This comes from the Olmec civilization that flourished 900BCE so it is later than the Sumerians but a has a distinctly separate, non-european evolution. This civilization has slowly emerged from the jungle through the discovery of giant heads eventually leading to the discovery of a lost city. Part of this site was used as a gravel pit that had been unwittingly mined for stone for highway construction when a tablet was found in the rubble that bore symbols or glyphs that is also thought to be a pictogram form of writing like the Egyptian heiroglyphs. It depicts common foodstuffs, pineapple, maize, insects and fish.

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