text:  Takalik Abaj Monument 23 dates to the Middle Preclassic period , and is found in Takalik Abaj , an important city in the foothills of the Guatemalan Pacific coast , in the modern department of Retalhuleu . It appears to be an Olmec @-@ style colossal head re @-@ carved into a niche figure sculpture . If originally a colossal head then it would be the only known example from outside the Olmec heartland . 
  