The phenomenon of the Olmec Heads and their Mysterious origins is observed in the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in the early pre-classic period, with the development of the Olmec culture. The first representations of political power are witnessed there, expressed through monumental sculpture and large-scale architecture. The dominant figure of the rulers appears and alludes to forms of government exercised by individuals who can convene to populations through ideological management and other coercion mechanisms.

The socio-political complexity thus emerged encouraged the development of similar forms in other areas of Mesoamerica, which would later lead to the appearance of the first stratified societies made up of actual states, such as the cases of Teotihuacan in the Mexican highlands, Monte Albán in Oaxaca and the city-states of the Maya area during the classical period. The corollary of this process was made up by some societies of the post-classic period that reached supra-state levels, as happened with the Mexica who settled in the Mexican highlands and came to establish a true pan-Mesoamerica empire.