<P> The original location of the La Cobata head was not a major archaeological site and it is likely that the head was either abandoned at its source or during transport to its intended destination . Various features of the head suggest that it was unfinished, such as a lack of symmetry below the mouth and an area of rough stone above the base . Rock was not removed from around the earspools as on other heads, and does not narrow towards the base . Large parts of the monument seem to be roughed out without finished detail . The right hand earspool also appears incomplete; the forward portion is marked with a sculpted line while the rear portion has been sculpted in relief, probably indicating that the right cheek and eye area were also unfinished . The La Cobata head was almost certainly carved from a raw boulder rather than being sculpted from a throne . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> Monument 23 is sculpted from andesite and falls in the middle of the size range for confirmed colossal heads . It stands 1.84 metres (6.0 ft) high and measures 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) wide by 1.56 metres (5.1 ft) deep . Like the examples from the Olmec heartland, the monument features a flat back . Lee Parsons contests John Graham's identification of Monument 23 as a re-carved colossal head; he views the side ornaments, identified by Graham as ears, as rather the scrolled eyes of an open - jawed monster gazing upwards . Countering this, James Porter has claimed that the re-carving of the face of a colossal head into a niche figure is clearly evident . </P> <P> Monument 23 was damaged in the mid-twentieth century by a local mason who attempted to break its exposed upper portion using a steel chisel . As a result, the top is fragmented, although the broken pieces were recovered by archaeologists and have been put back into place . </P>

What features are found in most heads in mayan sculpture