The Olmec

The Olmec

Notes for sink spiral

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

The ancient Olmec Civilization

The ancient Olmec civilization is now considered to be one of the earliest great civilizations in Mesoamerica.

This civilization came and went long before the Aztec empire was even thought of, and yet they left their mark on the peoples of Mexico and beyond, and developed a complex culture which is still echoed today, probably in ways we don't yet even realize.

Clips of Olmecs

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/7792-mexico-the-olmecs-video.htm

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28709-discovery-atlantis-olmec-civilization-and-atlantis-video.htm

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28710-discovery-atlantis-olmec-heads-video.htm








MESOAMERICA

Geography and Ecology of Olmec Area

Located in southern Veracruz and Tabasco

Olmec zone is about 125 mi long and 50 wide

High rainfall - over 300 cm/year

Dense tropical forest

Formed by Volcanic upthrust of the Sierra de los Tuxtlas

Who were the Olmec?

Olmec means “dweller in the land of rubber”, refers to people who lived along Gulf of Mexico, southern Veracruz, and western Tabasco.

Olmec lived in this area between 1500 B.C. and 100 A.D.

Sometimes called the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica.

Olmecs – most influential early Mesoamerican civilization (1200 – 400

B.C.)

The center of Olmec civilization was located near the tropical Atlantic coast (gulf coast) of what are now the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tobasco

Map of Mesoamerica

http://mexico.udg.mx/historia/precolombinas/ingles/olmecas/

SOCIETY

Divided into two groups:

the elite group- lived in the small urban centers (towns, really)

the common people -lived in the rural areas

WHAT DID THEY DO?

Agriculture, Religion and Commercial Trade

. The elite lived off of the agriculture of the common people, but they probably didn't rule over the agricultural populations.

They carried out religious ceremonies centered in the towns

Commercial trade in luxury and artistic items.

FACTS

Depended on rich plant diversity and fishing

Had craft and social specialization

Not much known about the political structure but thought to be based on kinship

The authority of the rulers and their kin groups is suggested by a series of colossal carved stone heads

FINDINGS:

FACTS

Devised a crude writing system.

Put up elaborate ceremonial centers.

Famous for the basalt heads- multi ton carvings of ruler’s faces.

carving:

Olmec facts

The Olmec were polytheistic, and most of their deities had dual (male/female) natures

Had shamans that provided practical advice about the periodic rains essential to agricultural life

Produced a calendar that was used to organize ritual life and agriculture.

Also played a game similar to soccer, played on a special court by teams in protective gear.

Olmec Decline

Each major Olmec center was eventually abandoned, its monuments defaced and buried and its buildings destroyed. Archaeologists can only infer what happened.

1. evidence of internal upheavals

2. military defeat

3. rituals associated with death of ruler

End of Olmec?

Around 300 BC, the Olmec vanished for reasons that vanished with them.

We do know, however, that much of their culture and social structure was absorbed by other peoples.

The Olmecs, as far as we can tell, are the first chain in the development of Mesoamerican culture.

Evidence from Pottery

He found through chemical analysis of the clays and potsherds that while other ancient settlements made pottery with symbols and designs in the "Olmec style," only the early Olmec themselves -- at San Lorenzo near Mexico's Gulf Coast -- exported their pottery.

This suggests that Olmec was “mother culture”.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32926-2005Feb17.html

Pottery at Etlatongo

Pottery is made from Clay found at San Lorenzo. Excavated by Jeffrey Blomster and colleagues.

www.archaeology.org/online/features/olmec/

Art Jade

carved with techniques such as drilling, string-sawing, and incising

blue-green color until recently, more were known from

Guerrero than heartland Stingray spines

real and jade "icepicks" or perforators

Clamshells

Ceramic babies

Art Con’d Mirrors

made of polished iron ore (magnetite, ilmenite, hematite)

Sculpture colossal heads thrones ("altars")

figures seated in cave mouths theme of royal descent (ruler with infant God

IV) forerunner of ceremonial bar? theme of conquest (ruler grasping a rope with

captive)

Jade

Jade Axe Were-Jaguar Olmec Figure

http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:

Ceramic

Duck Figure Human Figure


Thrones/Altars

Altar #4 La Venta

Monument #19 La Venta

Altar #5 La Venta


Colossal Heads

Colossal Head #10 Basalt San Lorenzo


“Mutilation”

Colossal Head #2 San Lorenzo

Colossal Head #5 San Lorenzo


Calendar The epi-Olmec - from 31B.C. - the

peoples who subsequently inhabited the same lands and were probably descended at least in part from the Olmec, seem to have been the earliest users of the bar and dot system of recording time.

The low relief on this stone shows the detail from a four-digit numerical recording, read as 15.6.16.18. The vigesimal (or base-20) counting system has been used across Mesoamerica.

A value of 5 is represented by a bar, and a value of 1 is represented by a dot, such that the three bars and single dot here stands for 16. The Maya would later adopt this counting system for their Long Count calendar. The date in this relief is the oldest recorded date in Mesoamerica, corresponding to a day in the year 31 B.C.

Detail of Long Count DateDetail of Long Count Datehttp://www.crystalinks.com/olmec.htmlhttp://www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html

San Lorenzo, Veracruz

Oldest Olmec site

Occupied by 1500 B.C. Pottery found from earliest period

Monumental sculptures not until 1250 B.C.

Carved from basalt which was floated on huge rafts from the Tuxtla mountains.

Ended around 900 B.C., and all monoliths intentionally mutilated or buried.

Thought to have been a revolt by the people who moved the stone to San Lorenzo and built the mounds.

San Lorenzo Sculpture

Monument 52

San Lorenzo

Figure #34 Basalt San Lorenzo

Located in the eastern part of the state of Morelos, three peaks rise from the nearly flat valley floor. These isolated, igneous intrusions rise over 300 m above the valley floor, and must have been considered sacred in ancient times, as they were by the Aztecs and even by the modern villagers. This place is called Chalcatzingo, a Nahuatl name that means "the revered or appreciated place of the Chalcas".

http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html

Monument 9 was found by looters, apparently atop the "Plaza Central" structure 4. This sculpture repeats the earth-monster motif of "El Rey" and "The Governor", here manifested with a full-faced cruciform-shaped mouth. From the clefts on the exterior of the mouth, bromeliad-like plants again grow.


The most striking carving in Chalcatzingo is known locally as "El Rey," a representation of an enthroned ruler, although it is not clear if it is male or female. "El Rey" seated within the Earth-monster's mouth has been identified as a rain deity or the God of the Mountain. The whole sequence of the reliefs may represent the collaboration of the clan groups, each one related to natural elements, in their petitions through prayers and ritual to bring the rain clouds from to the mountain of Chalcatzingo, in a ceremony associated with fertility.


The relief shows a realistic squash plant that has its vines, leaves, and young fruits. About 61 cms. from this plant there is a small rectangular cavity cut out of the bedrock. It was intended for collecting rain or receiving dedicatory water. The placement of water at the foot of the squash plants implies that imitative magic was the reason the cavity is close to the carving.


Monument 31: Jaguar as symbol of power and

fertility


La Venta. c.1000 BC

•Although modern La Venta is an "island" of high ground surrounded by marshes, the Olmec capital occupied a ridge overlooking the then active Rio Palma River.

•During the 400 or 500 year occupation of the site, both monumental architecture and earthworks of colored clays and imported stones were completed.


Jade mosaic mask representing a stylized jaguar. c. 1000 BC


Basalt tomb. c.1000 BC

This tomb constructed with giant basalt columns in the form of a subterranean "log house" contained the red-pigment-impregnated remains of two infants accompanied by a rich offering of jade figurines and jewelry. The basalt columns are carved in a way that simulates wooden posts.


The Olmec

Documents

olmec factsthe olmec

center of olmec civilization

tabasco olmec zone

ecology of olmec arealocated

southern veracruz

common people

gulf of mexico

peoples of mexico