The first time period, referred to as the Pre-Classical Period ranges from 3500 B.C. to 300 A.D. The main civilizations that flourished throughout this period were the Olmec, Teotihucan and Mayan civilizations. Gradually, human settlements began to take shape as agriculture started being developed by these people, allowing them to stay put in one place. Art work and pottery also appeared.

The Olmecs were a people who are considered by many as the mother culture of pre-Hispanic Mexico; their intellectual achievements set the foundations for the civilizations that were to follow. The Olmecs worshipped the jaguar. To them this feline was supernatural and many stone carvings, ceremonial artifacts and altars been discovered by archaeological expeditions evidencing this.

This civilization is said to have been the first to create a calendar, to develop a writing system using hieroglyphics and grasp the concept of zero.