But on the far side of the room stood one high-backed chair, solid, and its gilding largely intact, but mismatched with its table, a wide thing with legs and edges thickly carved in flowers.

He was lying on a feather mattress, in a large bed with heavy cornerposts thickly carved and gilded.

The walls were wood, thickly carved like the door, the ceiling low, nearly brushing the top of his head.

The high straight back, thickly carved and gilded, made the chair seem a throne, though it was no different from any other in the room.

The Olmecs appeared along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize about 1200 B.C. and vanished about 400 B.C., leaving behind monumental helmeted stone heads with flat eyes and noses and thickly carved, downturned lips, and glyphs hinting of a written language.

Inside, colorful, fringed carpets made a floor, and the only furniture was a huge table, thickly carved and gilded, inlaid with ivory and turquoise.