Olmecs of Mesoamerica

Olmecs of Mesoamerica

By Noah Fried, George Gavales,

Bryce Veach and Drew Dickson

Economy

• Economy based on hunting, farming, and fishing.

• Early hunters used advanced weapons made from iron

• Early farmers used tools made from stone and iron

• Early fishermen had nets and boats• Money was barter, trade

Trade

• The Olmecs were known to have traded both nationally and internationally

• They imported stone and other art supplies• They imported seeds and other natural

resources• Bits of their culture were found so far as

Central America

Labor

• There was specialized labor• There were the average people who hunted,

farmed, and fished• There were craftsmen who made weapons

and tools• There were scribes who used Zapotec writing• Officials to run the different sections of

government were at the top of the list

Inventions

• The compass• The ziggurat • The ability to write• The concept of zero• A form of recreational sport using rubber

balls

Religion

• There were human sacrifices, some victims were babies

• Rulers, priests, and shamans led all religious functions

• A or the god of the Olmecs was a feathered serpent• All rulers were in some way related to a god,

making them a sort of deity • Shamans were represented by half human half

animal figurines

Art

• Olmec art is highly stylized and uses an iconography reflective of the religious meaning of the artworks

• They used jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone among others

• The Wrestler is a good example of this(the slide background)

Caste System

• The Olmec civilization was made up of many different classes of men just like today

• There were the farmers, artisans, and sculptors on the lower level

• Next came the merchants and warriors and finally the specialists

• Above them was a group of high authority which researchers do not know very much about but were referred to as elites

Government• Highest level of the caste system• Religion was very much involved• Advisors and sometimes leaders include, but are not

limited to: magician-priests, observers of the stars, skillful manipulators of their hematite mirrors, worshipers of the jaguar-baby, and city planners and architects

• A military theocracy undoubtedly was the characteristic form of the great majority of Mesoamerican states

• Elites were separated from the common people This was one of the first cultures to do this.

Military

• There is no record of a military• The weapons that could have been used were

either destroyed or nonexistent • They only recorded weapon of the Olmecs is a

paddle shaped club• Because of the size of the empire they must have

had a military• It seems that the stereotypical bow and arrow

was not used unless they were destroyed

The EndYou can clap now