The old one Olmec culture It is currently considered one of the first great civilizations of 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. They developed a complex culture that still echoes today, probably in ways we don’t even realize.
He olmec name means «rubber town» in Nahuatl, the Aztec language. It was the Aztec name for the people who lived in this area and who extracted latex from the rubber trees.
The Europeans mistakenly assigned the name to the ancient ruins they found there. Not realizing that those ruins predate the Aztec civilization and all other civilizations in the Americas.
The word «olmec» it also refers to the rubber balls, used for the ancient ball game of the Olmec creation.
The Olmecs called themselves Xi. The same name they used when they were in China.
They often depicted themselves with colossal heads, some of which were misshapen, the meaning of which is unknown.
Olmec culture
Who were the Olmecs?
The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico, in the current Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
The Olmec name is a Nahuatl, the word in the Aztec language; means the town of rubber.
The Olmecs might have been the first to figure out how to turn the latex of the rubber tree into something that could be molded, cured, and hardened.
Because the Olmecs did not have much writing beyond a handful of surviving carved glyphs – symbols – we do not know what the Olmecs called themselves.
When evidence of the Olmecs was discovered (in 1863), scientists at first did not know what to make of them.
Appearing around 1600 BC, the Olmecs were among the first complex Mesoamerican societies, and their culture influenced many later civilizations, such as the Maya.
The Olmecs are known for the huge stone heads that they carved out of a volcanic rock called basalt.
The Olmecs lived along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the modern Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz.
Olmec society lasted from around 1600 BC to around 350 BC, when environmental factors made their villages uninhabitable.
Trade and life in the villages
There are no written records of Olmec trade, belief, or customs, but from archaeological evidence, it appears that they were not economically confined.
In fact, Olmec artifacts have been found throughout Mesoamerica. This indicates that there were extensive interregional trade routes.
The presence of artifacts made of jade, a semi-precious green stone; obsidian, a glassy black volcanic rock. Other stones that show trade with peoples off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The jade came from what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca and the country of Guatemala to the south; the obsidian came from the Mexican highlands to the north.
The Olmec period saw a significant increase in the length of trade routes, the variety of goods, and the sources of traded items.
Trade helped the Olmecs build their urban centers of San Lorenzo and La Venta.
These cities, however, were predominantly used for ceremonial purposes and elite activities. Most of the people lived in small villages.
The individual houses had a sort of garage shed and a storage pit for storing root vegetables nearby.
Religion
There are no direct written accounts of Olmec beliefs, but their remarkable works of art provide clues to their life and religion.
There were eight different androgynes that possessed both masculine and feminine characteristics: Olmec deities. Each with their own distinctive characteristics. For example, the Bird Monster was depicted as a harpy eagle associated with the government.
The Olmec Dragon was shown with flame brows, a bulbous nose, and a forked tongue. Deities often represented a natural element and included the following:
the corn deityThe spirit of the rain or were-jaguarThe fish or the shark monster
Religious activities related to these deities likely included elite rulers, shamans, and possibly a class of priests who made offerings at the religious sites of La Venta and San Lorenzo.
Art
Olmec culture was defined and unified by a specific artistic style. Crafted in a variety of materials -jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone. It is an archaeologist’s term for carved and green-colored minerals, much of the Olmec art is naturalistic.
Other art expresses fantastic anthropomorphic creatures, often highly stylized, using iconography reflecting religious significance.
Common motifs include sloping mouths and cleft heads, seen in representations of jaguars and the rain deity.
Olmec Mythology
Aside from the previously mentioned religious aspects of Olmec society, Olmec mythology seems to have spread to other cultures as well.
The Olmecs were fascinated with «were-jaguars,» or were-jaguar hybrids: some Olmec art has caused speculation that they believed a crossbreed between humans and jaguars had once occurred, and depictions of fiery werep babies -jaguar are a staple of Olmec art.
Later cultures would continue the human-jaguar obsession: a good example is the jaguar warriors of the Aztecs.
Also, at the site of El Azuzul, near San Lorenzo. A pair of extremely similar statues of young men placed with a pair of jaguar statues is reminiscent of the two sets of hero twins whose adventures are recounted in the Popol Vuh, known as the Mayan bible.
Although there are no confirmed courts for the famous Mesoamerican ball game at Olmec sites, the rubber balls used for the game were unearthed at El Manatí.
Engineering
The Olmecs were the first great engineers of Mesoamerica. There is an aqueduct in San Lorenzo, carved out of dozens of solid stones and placed side by side.
The royal complex at La Venta also shows engineering: the «mass offerings» of Complex A are complicated pits filled with stones, clay, and retaining walls, and there is a tomb built with basalt columns.
The Olmecs may have also given Mesoamerica its first written language.
The indecipherable designs on certain pieces of Olmec stone may be early glyphs: later societies, such as the Maya, would have elaborate languages using glyphic writing and would even develop books.
As Olmec culture faded into the epi-Omeccan society seen at the Tres Zapotes site, people developed an interest in the calendar and astronomy, two other foundational elements of Mesoamerican society.
Olmec colossal heads
The most striking art left by this culture is the colossal Olmecs – very big-headed. Seventeen monumental stone representations of human heads carved from large blocks of basalt have been unearthed in the region to date.
The heads date to at least before 900 BC and are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization.
They all depict mature men with full cheeks, flat noses, and slightly crossed eyes.
However, none of the heads are the same, and each has a unique headdress, suggesting that they represent specific individuals.
The heads were arranged in lines or groups in the main Olmec centers. The method and logistics used to transport the stone to the sites remain uncertain.
The end of the Olmecs
The Olmec population declined dramatically between 400 and 350 BC, although it is not clear why.
Archaeologists speculate that the depopulation was caused by environmental changes, specifically the siltation of the rivers, which obstructed the water supply.
Another theory for the considerable population drop proposes relocation of settlements due to increased volcanic activity as the cause and not extinction.
Volcanic eruptions during the Early, Late, and Terminal Formative periods would have covered the lands with ash and forced the Olmecs to relocate their settlements.
Olmec Food, Crops, and Diet
The Olmecs practiced basic agriculture using the «slash and burn» technique, in which patches of land covered with vegetation are burned: this clears them for planting, and the ashes act as fertilizer.
They planted many of the same crops seen in the region today. Like squash, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.
Maize was a staple of the Olmec diet, although it may have been introduced late in the development of their culture.
The Olmecs preferred to settle near water, since the floodplains were good for agriculture and fish and shellfish were more readily available.
For meat, they kept domestic dogs and the occasional deer. A vital part of the Olmec diet was nixtamal. A special type of cornmeal ground with shells, lime or ashes. The addition of which greatly increases the nutritional value of cornmeal.
Olmec Tools
Despite having only Stone Age technology, the Olmec were able to make several types of tools that made life easier for them.
They used whatever was at hand, such as clay, stone, bone, wood, or deer antlers.
They were experts in making pottery: containers and dishes for storing and cooking food.
Clay pots and vessels were extremely common among the Olmecs: literally. Millions of sherds have been discovered in and around Olmec sites.
The tools were mostly made of stone and included basic elements such as:
hammerswedgesmortarsPallashand millsmessed up Used to crush corn and other grains.
Obsidian was not native to the Olmec lands. But when you could have it, it made excellent knives.
Olmec Houses
The Olmec culture is remembered today in part because it was the first Mesoamerican culture to produce small cities. Most notably San Lorenzo and La Venta (their original names are unknown).
The most common Olmecs were simple farmers and fishermen who lived in family groups or in small villages.
Olmec houses were simple affairs: usually a large building made of earth around poles, serving as a sleeping, dining, and shelter area.
Most houses probably had a small herb garden and staples.
Because the Olmecs preferred to live on or near floodplains. They built their houses on small mounds or platforms. They dug holes in the ground to store food.
Olmec and Mesoamerica influence
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