Between 1500 and 500 BC the Olmecs flourished in the tropical lowlands of Mexico's Gulf Coast, creating the most complex of Mesoamerica's early societies and its first monumental art. Emphasising the strategies of political leaders and the environmental and social diversity within the Olmec region, this up-to-date and comprehensive study describes the history of Olmec research, synthesises recent scholarship on the ecology, economy, socio-political organisation and ideology of Olmec society, and evaluates current debates over the influence of the Olmecs on their contemporaries and their contributions to later Mesoamerican civilisations.