The%20Olmec

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The Olmec

• Notes for sink spiral

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EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
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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.

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Clips of Olmecs

• http//videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/7792-mexico-th
  e-olmecs-video.htm
• http//videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28709-di
  scovery-atlantis-olmec-civilization-and-atlantis-v
  ideo.htm
• http//videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28710-di
  scovery-atlantis-olmec-heads-video.htm

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MESOAMERICA
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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

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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.

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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

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Map of Mesoamerica
http//mexico.udg.mx/historia/precolombinas/ingles
/olmecas/
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(No Transcript)
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SOCIETY

• Divided into two groups
• the elite group- lived in the small urban centers
  (towns, really)
• the common people -lived in the rural areas

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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.

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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

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FACTS

• Devised a crude writing system.
• Put up elaborate ceremonial centers.
• Famous for the basalt heads- multi ton carvings
  of rulers faces.

• carving

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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.

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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

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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.

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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/A329
26-2005Feb17.html
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Pottery at Etlatongo
Pottery is made from Clay found at San Lorenzo.
Excavated by Jeffrey Blomster and colleagues.
www.archaeology.org/online/features/olmec/
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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

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Art Cond

• 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)

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Jade
Olmec Figure
Jade Axe
Were-Jaguar
http//isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/mille
r/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.htmlPHOTO20GALLERY
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Ceramic
Human Figure
Duck Figure
http//isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/mille
r/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.htmlPHOTO20GALLERY
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Thrones/Altars
Altar 4 La Venta
Monument 19 La Venta
Altar 5 La Venta
http//isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/mille
r/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.htmlPHOTO20GALLERY
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Colossal Heads
Colossal Head 10 Basalt San Lorenzo
http//isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/mille
r/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.htmlPHOTO20GALLERY
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Mutilation
Colossal Head 5 San Lorenzo
Colossal Head 2 San Lorenzo
http//isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/mille
r/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.htmlPHOTO20GALLERY
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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 Date http//www.crystalinks.c
om/olmec.html
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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.

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San Lorenzo Sculpture
Monument 52 San Lorenzo
Figure 34 Basalt San Lorenzo
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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
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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.
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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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.
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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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.
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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Monument 31 Jaguar as symbol of power and
fertility
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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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.

http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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Jade mosaic mask representing a stylized jaguar.
c. 1000 BC
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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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.
http//instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446
-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html