The Olmecs

The Olmecs were an ancient Mesoamerican civilization, who dwelled in the tropical
lowlands of Mexico, existing before European settlers made their way across the Atlantic Ocean.
They arrived around ~8000 4000 BC, but their civilization began to flourish at around 1400
BC. They were the first civilization to develop a major culture in the Americas. The name
Olmec came from the younger civilization, the Aztecs, and it meant rubber people. They were
named such because of people who once lived there and used to extract latex from rubber trees.
However they referred to themselves as the Xi. They were skilled people, as they had
established resource gathering, trade, gods and religion, brilliant architecture, art, engineering,
and politics.
They inhabited lands that varied in their geology and geography, from the Tuxtlas
Mountains in the west to the Chontalpa lowlands in the east, which spanned about 125 miles
long and 50 miles wide. Because of the vast area covered by these people, many centers were
built in the different geological locations so that they could gather the different resources and
supply the variety of goods to the entire nation across the lands they occupied. There were three
major centers, La Venta, the eastern most; supplying cacao, rubber and salt. San Lorenzo, in the
center of their lands, controlled the flood plains and the trade routes. In the west, adjacent to the

Tuxtlas Mountains, is Laguna de los Cerros. Out here a very valuable type of stone called basalt
could be found. It was very important in the use of producing mutates and monuments.

Religion played a large role in this ancient civilization. The leaders of the cities were
chosen by their direct link to the gods, which gave them the authority to rule. Also, these
leaders and priests or shamans, would pray to these gods for prosperity in their crops, for rain to
help the crops grow, for guiding the deceased in the afterlife, celebrating birth, etc. They had
many gods for many things and this practice passed on to younger civilizations. Their religion
also influenced their art, like most cultures afterwards. There were many sculptures and carvings
depicting these gods, made of the same materials they gathered from the Tuxtla Mountains. The
jaguar was seen as a very spiritual creature which represented life and death and was used as a
muse in many sculptures, mostly depicted as a were-jaguar.

The artwork the Olmecs did was not only for religious purposes but also naturalistic and for
decoration. They are known for creating the giant stone heads, colossal heads or Olmec heads.
These sculptures have no recorded information about them, leaving them as an enigma to the
world. Some assumptions have been made, like the heads being portraits of rulers, which is
plausible because no two heads are alike. Also the headdresses were very unique, and may have
alluded to personal or family symbols. Another characteristic of the colossal heads, is the
features of the faces. The features were very African.
Their engineering skills were impressive; building aqueducts to syphon water from the river than
ran through the middle of their lands to grow their crops and drainage systems. They built these
aqueducts out of large pieces of stone that were placed in a sequence to allow water to flow.
They also built pyramids, which were used as places of worship and sacrifice. They were built
with earth, so as to connect more with the gods.
The Olmecs were considered the mother culture because after them came other
civilizations, whose own culture and technologies were based on the Olmecs. Some examples of
these descendant civilizations or Amerindians are, Aztecs, Mayans, the Iroquois federation,
Pueblo and Inca.

The Aztecs had control over northern Mexico around the 16th century, when the Spanish
conquests were occurring. They referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca. They were a
nomadic people, who wondered around Mexico for a couple centuries, until settling in the valley.
There were many other tribes in this area, so instead of fighting for lands to dwell in they just
settled in the swamp lands around Lake Texcoco. Like the Olmecs, they had a lot of skill in
engineering. They built canoes to hunt for fish and other wildlife. Filled some of the swamp land
with reeds, stone and dirt to expand their farm land and effectively grow more crops. They also
built floating gardens to increase produce. These floating gardens were essentially rafts
anchored to the bottom of the lake or strong tree and piled reeds and dirt on top of them. Dams
were constructed to prevent flooding of useful land. An even greater feat was building cities,
with most essentials being present, on these same swampy lands. Although they settled
peacefully, after finally settling in they began invading other tribes villages in the area until the
entire valley of Mexico belonged to them. When they raided these tribes they would kill some
and kidnap others, for sacrificial or slave purposes. Because of this conquest, most of the other
tribes hated and feared the Aztecs, but their feelings towards them did not cause them to waver
from their tactics. Subsequently, in the 16th century the Spaniards arrived with their more
advanced means of conquest and took over Mexico from the Aztecs. The most effective means of
defeating the Aztecs that the Spaniards had was not their guns or dogs, but the diseases they
carried with them over the ocean.

The Mayans occupied the east of Mesoamerica, that being the Yucatn peninsula. They
were around from as far back as 2600 BC, but came to prominence in the 3rd century. Although
the Mayans were one nation, they were separated and ruled under many empires (i.e. they were
not unified). They believed in the same gods throughout and their art was the same, but
politically they were segregated. There were up to 20 states existing at one time in the Yucatn
peninsula and the leader of each state was called mah kina. One great achievement was the
writing system they created, that had 800 individual symbols to use, however they had no
alphabet. These writings were historical memoirs of their people and were carved in stone, wood
and incorporated into the edifices they erected. The type of writing was hieroglyphic and each
combination of symbols represented either whole words or just syllables. Four books are known
of today, the Dresden, Madud, Paris and Grolier codices. Their art was very distinct and intricate.
One such piece of art was the stairway at Copan. This stairway was decorated with paintings of
depictions of sacrificial events and references to their gods. It was composed of statues, figures
and ramps in addition to the central stairway. An architectural feat of theirs was the stone, step
pyramids they built as temples and tombs for nobles. These pyramids were like most pyramids in
Mesoamerica, they were stepped and had one or more staircases leading up the center of one or
more of the faces of the pyramid. These staircases were there to allow priests and kings to travel
from Earth to Heaven so they could be closer to the gods. At the top was a small temple or
shrine where sacrifices took place. These pyramids also had burial rooms in them that were
accessible by narrow passageways. In these burial rooms you could find treasures as well.
However, there was another type of pyramid they built that was not meant to be climbed or
touched and was considered sacred and for the gods only. Pyramids had more than just one
function, they were also landmarks for travelling people, because they were so tall that they
stood above the jungle and could be seen from far. Another function was to act as a reminder that
the gods were omnipresent.

The Olmecs were the gateway for the younger tribes of the Americas to flourish and
leave such lasting impressions on the world today. Many cultures after them took from their
intelligence and made magnificent things to call their own. A lot of their cultural aspects are used
up to the 21st century in storytelling and artwork of all kinds. They were also very mysterious in
terms of the colossal heads they sculpted and because of their mysterious disappearance.

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