9/12/2007
Who were the Olmec?
‹
The Olmec
Geography and Ecology
Art and Technology
Socio--Political Structure
Socio
Religion
Important Sites
Characteristic Traits
‹ Building
of clay pyramids and temple
mounds
‹ Particular sculptural style
– weeping or snarling jaguar/human
infant
– werewere-jaguar
– colossal heads
– basalt monuments
– fine jade carving
Evidence from Pottery
Jeffrey P. Blomster examined pottery
samples from Mexico and Central America.
‹ He found through chemical analysis of the
clay 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”.
Studies began in early 1900s
– 1939 Matthew Stirling was sent by the
Smithsonian and National Geographic to
investigate giant stone carvings.
Olmec means “dweller
Ol
“d ll in
i the
h land
l d off
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.
‹
Basic Mesoamerican civilization?
‹ Artifacts
with Olmec traits found in
preclassic horizons throughout
Mesoamerica.
‹ “Cult
Cult of the Jaguar
Jaguar” considered a
basic Olmec trait.
Pottery at Etlatongo
‹
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32926-2005Feb17.html
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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9/12/2007
Map of Mesoamerica
‹
Art
Jade
– carved with techniques such as drilling,
string--sawing, and incising
string
– blue
blue--green color
– until recently, more were known from
Guerrero than heartland
‹
Stingray spines
– reall and
d jade
j d
– "icepicks" or perforators
‹
‹
Clamshells
Ceramic babies
http://mexico.udg.mx/historia/precolombinas/ingles/olmecas/
Art Con’d
‹
Jade
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 Axe
Olmec Figure
Were-Jaguar
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:
Ceramic
Thrones/Altars
Altar #4
La Venta
Monument #19
La Venta
Duck Figure
Human Figure
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:
Altar #5
La Venta
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:
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Colossal Heads
‹
Colossal Heads
May represent simple series of local or
regional leaders
– San Lorenzo, with eight or more, is longest
series
– La Venta comes next with
– Tres Zapotes is last with 2
subject to mutilation and destruction
sometimes buried
‹ largest found at head of arroyo in Tuxtlas
‹
‹
Colossal Head #10 Basalt
San Lorenzo
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:
“Mutilation”
Socio--Political Structure
Socio
‹ Chiefdom
– notion formulated by Julian
Steward and Kalervo Oberg
– Sanders and Price were first to
apply this term to Olmecs
– hierachically arranged society
‹ highest
rank is that of the chief
status positions than those
available to fill them
‹ intermediate step between egalitarian
societies and states
‹ fewer
Colossal Head #5
San Lorenzo
Colossal Head #2
San Lorenzo
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/anthropology/miller/3250/03olmec/aolmec2.html#PHOTO%20GALLERY:
Religion
‹
Continuity Hypothesis (Covarrubias)
– sees continuity from Olmec to Aztec
beliefs
– all or most images in Olmec art represent
ancient rain deity
– were
were--jaguar
j
may be
b ancestral
t l to
t Tlaloc
Tl l
– suggests almost monotheistic system
‹
Stirling Hypothesis
– myth of creatures with human and animal
attributes
– Stirling noted Monument 3 at Potrero
Nuevo
‹
gigantic jaguar copulating with supine woman
– does not account for complexity of
iconography
Religion Con’d
‹
Astral Hypothesis (Mary Popenoe Hatch)
– many elements and combinations may refer
to celestial bodies and events
‹
Las Limas Hypothesis (Coe and
Joralemon)
– Coe recognized five representations of deity
heads on figure from Las Limas
– Joralemon defines ten deities, each of which
represented a cluster of discrete
iconographic elements
– we know that many animals were important
besides jaguar
‹
rattlesnake, cayman/crocodile, toad
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Calendar
‹
‹
‹
The epiepi-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 fourfour-digit numerical
recording, read as 15.6.16.18. The
vigesimal (or base
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
Important sites included
‹ San
Lorenzo
‹ Tres Zapotes
‹ Chalcatzingo
‹ La Venta
http://www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html
San Lorenzo, Veracruz
‹
San Lorenzo Sculpture
Oldest Olmec site
– Occupied by 1500 B.C.
– Pottery found from earliest period
‹
Monumental sculptures not until 1250 B.C.
– Carved
C
d ffrom basalt
b
l which
hi h was floated
fl
d on huge
h
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.
Figure #34
Basalt
San Lorenzo
Tres Zapotes
‹
Chalcatzingo
Geography
‹
Geography
Stone sculpture
‹
Monuments
‹
Burials
– located in highlands of Morelos
– in swampy basin formed by Rio Papaloapan
‹
– colossal heads
– stelae
‹
‹
‹
Stela C - Long Count date and hieroglyphs
(discovered by Stirling, fragmentary basalt
monument, abstract, derivative werewere-jaguar on one
side, one of oldest dated monuments in the New
World)
inscriptions are among earliest examples of writing
– Monument 1: ruler in cave or monster mouth
– raindrops from clouds
– in crypts
– accompanied with jade earspools, pendants, necklaces,
and La VentaVenta-style figurines
‹
Life at Chalcatzingo
– farming on artificial terraces
– deer and rabbit hunted
– dog was most prominent food animal
25 lifelife-sized jade masks
– young, middlemiddle-aged, and aged versions of same
individual
– probably represent leaders
– hundreds of jade or serpentine celts
– assortment of other objects
Monument 52
San Lorenzo
‹
Nature of Olmex presence
– Olmec may have entered for longlong-distance trade
– first occupied ca. 1500 BC, reached its height from 700700500 BC
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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
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
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
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
Monument 31: Jaguar as symbol of power and fertility
La Venta, Tabasco
‹
Contemporaneous to later phases of San
Lorenzo and persisting longer.
– Oriented on a n
n--s axis on an island in the Rio
Tonala
mounds, plazas
plazas, tombs
tombs, basalt slab
– Includes mounds
enclosures, and a clay pyramid.
– Buried stone offerings
jade and serpentine celts
colored clay floors
‹ mosaics
‹ jaguar masks
‹ stone figurines
‹
‹
http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
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9/12/2007
La Venta. c.1000 BC
Jade mosaic mask representing a stylized
jaguar. c. 1000 BC
•Although modern La Venta
is an "island" of high ground
surrounded by marshes, the
Olmec capital occupied a
ridge
id
overlooking
l ki
th
the th
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
http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art446-01-Olmec/WebPage-Full.00021.html
Basalt tomb. c.1000 BC
End of Olmec?
‹ Around
600 B.C. building and
expansion of Olmecs ended.
– Revolution of working class?
– External pressures?
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
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