 The Olmec culture predates the Maya and the Aztec and once reached from the Gulf of Mexico to Nicaragua.Most surviving representations in Olmec art, such as at La Venta and a painting in the Juxtlahuaca cave (see below), show the Feathered Serpent as a crested rattlesnake, sometimes with feathers covering the body and legs, and often in close proximity to humans.It is believed that Olmec supernatural entities such as the feathered serpent were the forerunners of many later Mesoamerican deities, although experts disagree on the feathered serpent's religious importance to the Olmec.