Figure 1.--A potter in Tlatico made this beautiful ceramic of a child about 400 BC. Tlatico was a village on the western shore of Lake Texcoco. It was an early culture in Mexico's Central Valley. The head here and some other Tlatico pottery is in the tradition of the Olmec. The Olmec were noted for baby-faced figurines. Art depicting children is relatively rare in Meso-America. This is also part of the archaeological record suggesting the importance of the Olmec in the development of Meso-America. Source: National Anthropolgical Museum, Mexico.

The Maya appear to have originated as an offshoot at the Olmec people. For many years archeologistzs studying Native American civilizations saw the Maya as the "mother culture" of Mexican pre-Colomvian civilizations. Gradually scholars armed with improved dating techniques and improved archeoligical methods have come to see the Olmecs as much more important than had earlier been believed. The Olmecs are best known for their huge carved stone heads. For years little more was known about the Olmec. Recent work has uncovered some information about this enigmatic early people. The basic conclusion is that the Olmec pre-dated the Maya. They developed a complex society centuries before the Maya and appear to have influenced the Maya and other later Native American civilizations. The relationship between the Olmec and Maya as well as the Olmec's relationship with other early Native American civilizations is still not fully understood and much discussed among Native American scholars.

Chronology

The Olmec have been dated both through archeological finds with dates and radio-carbon dating. Archeologists have found evidence of the Olmecs dating to about 1500 BC. This is the earliest evidence of compklex social organization in Meso-America. The Olmec culture appears to have thrived for centuries until about 100 BC, although it is quite possible that the Olmecs survived into the Common Era. No one knows why the Olmec civilization declined and disappeared. Scholars attribute the decline of the Maya to the exhaustion of the soil and other ecological factors. It is quite possible that this is what occurred to the Olmec, but no one really knows.

Location

Based on archeological finds, the Olmecs appear to have been located in the steamy jungles along Mexico's Gulf of Mexico coast south to the Pacific coast. The center of the civilization or Olmed heartland appears, based upon the abundance of Olmec artifacts and monuments, seems to have been along the Gulf Coast. This is the area along the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain, located in the souther part of the modern Mexican state of Veracruz and Tabasco. This is where the firt clossal carved head was first found. The Coatzalcoalcos River runs through the Olmec heartland. The terraine includes swampy lowlands intersperced with low-lying hills and ridges as well a few volcanoes. The Tuxtla Mountains dominate the north. This was the site of the Olmec's best known city-temple complexes: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, Laguna de los Cerros, and La Mojarra. Smaller Olmec sites have been found further south beyond the heartland and Olmec artifacts distributed even more widely, even into modern Central America. This suggests that the Olmecs were a people of considerable cultural influence. This overlaps with the area of Mayan culture, suggesting a relationship between the two civilizations.

Society

Rustic villages gradually developed into a complex society governed by kings and priests. There were important ceremonial centers.

Culture

No one knows how the ancient Olmec referred to themselves. Later Mesoamerican people refer to them as "Tamoanchan". While information on Olmec culture is still limited, some archeologists have come to the conclusion that Olmec culture and techological achievements provided a foundation for the Maya and other Mexican native American civilizations. [Coe] Modern archeologista have increasingly come to the conclusion that the Olmec were the first true Meso-American civilization. This is based on the fact Olmec public works and monumental art are the earliest foundin the region. Scholars have found a substantial cultural continuity between the Olmec and the Maya. [Reilly]

Agriculture

Art

One art scholar explains, "Olmec art is created to give power to the shaman and the shaman/ruler. It is crafted as sacred work and the time and energy expended by the artist added to its power." [Griffin] This of course is a primary functioin of early art. Olmec art are best known for their clossal, rounded stone head sculptures. Interest in the Olmec began when one of these heads was discovered along the Gulf of Mexico coast near modern Veracruz (1862). The Olmec at the time were an unknown people. As more articacts were discovered, archeologists began to discovered related articats at many different sites and the people began to be described as the Olmec. As the Olmec were not a living civilization at the time of the Conquest, much of what we know about them comes from the art uncovered by archeologists. [Taube] A number of additional carved heads have been discovered since the first 1862 find. Some archeologists have noted African facial features. This is largely unexplained as evidence of contacts between African and Native American peoples has not been found.

Religion

There is very little solid information on Olmec religion. Again the Olmec no longer existed when the Spanish arrived, thus the knowledge we have about the Maya and Aztec does not exist for the Olmec. There is no surviving descriptions of Olmec mythology. Scholars can only use the symbols and artifacts found in Maya art to conjecture as to the nature of Olmec religion. The jaguar was a particularly important symbol. This was the case of all important Mexican native American civilizations. One of the recurent themes in Olmec art is a human face depicted with a jaguar mouth. Some authors refer to this as a "were-jaguar". Scholars believe such man-animal mixtures suggest a mythology based around the mating of man and janguar. This is speculative. Thevman-animal imagery, however, show the not uncommon evolution from shamanistic shape-shifting. There is some, albeit limited information, that the Olmec practiced human sacrifice. One scholar contends that this included the sacrifice of infants. [Davies]

Science

Language

Information on language is limited because the Olmec were a collapsed civilization at the time of the Conquest. Scholars generally believe that they spoke a language in the Mixe-Zoquean family.

Writing

One of the most cotroversial subject among archeolgists working in Mesoamerican civilizations is Olmec writing. Some archeologists believe that the Olmec were the first Mesoamericans to develop writing. The uncetainty is because archeologists are not sure if the symbols dicovered at Olmec sites are an actual writing system. Archeologists have found Zapotec writing which has been dated to about 500 BC. Archeologists have found a variety symbols or signs on Olmec pottery, statuettes, batons/scepters, stelas and bas reliefs. There is no consensus as to the meaning of these signs, but some scholars believe that they may have been a pimitive writing system. Some of these artifacts have been dated to 650 BC. One scholar believes they may be as old as 900 BC. [Diehl] One serpentine stele found near Veracruz in the Olmec hearland hd 62 carved symbols. Most of the symbols are undechipered at this time, but some are obcvious representations (insect, corn plant, an altar, and a cross). The cross commonly appears in Olmec art and may represent the four compass points. Archeologists are not optimistic about being able to dechipher these finds.

Classic Vera Cruz Culture

A relatively new culture to be identified in Meso-America is the Classic Veracruz culture, sometimes referred to as Gulf Coast Classic culture, Since the 1950s, large numbers of artifavts have been found in the north and central areas of the Mexican Gulf of Mexico coasdt state of Veracruz. The culture has been dated to about 100-1000 AD. The best known site is El Tajin. Archaelohists have found influences from the west (Teotihuacan) and south (the Maya). The Veracruz culture ,however, seems to have evolved from the Epi-Olmec (post-Olmedcs). Some authors connect the Classic Veracruz culture with the Totonacs, who populated Veracruz at the time of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Archaeologuists have found, however, little evidence of cultural connections.

The Maya

The Maya appear to have originated as an offshoot of the Olmec people. There clearly is a relationship as the Olmec and Maya overlapped in time and location. The nature of the relationship is not well understood, but the Olmec clearly pre-dated the Maya. For many years archeologistzs studying Ntive American civilizations saw the Maya as the "mother culture" of Mexican pre-Colomvian civilizations. Gradually scholars armed with improved dating techniques and improved archeoligical methods have come to see the Olmecs as much more important than had earlier been believed. The Olmecs are best known for their huge carved stone heads. For years little more was known about the Olmec. Recent work has uncovered some information about this enigmatic early people. The basic conclusion is that the Olmec pre-dated the Maya. They developed a complex society centuries before the Maya and appear to have influenced the Maya and other later Native American civilizations. The relationship between the Olmec and Maya as well as the Olmec's relationship with other early Native American civilizations is still not fully understood and much discussed among Native American scholars.

Sources

Coe, Michael. The Maya.

Coe, Michael and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs.

Davies, Nigel. The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico.

Diehl, Richard A. University of Alabama, Science (September 2006).

Griffin, G. ed. Taube, Karl. Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks (2004).

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Created: 2:52 PM 8/26/2006
Last updated: 7:02 AM 6/24/2010