CIVILIZATION| TRADING AND CITIES REGION | ART COLOSSAL HEADS | END OF THE OLMECS
OLMEC
1200 B.C. – 600 A.D.
BY GROUP 6
TABLE 1 THE OLMEC
OF 2 OLMEC CITIES AND TRADING
CONTEN 3 OLMEC RELIGION
TS 4 OLMEC ART
5 OLMEC COLOSSAL HEADS
6 THE END OF THE OLMECS
THE OLMEC
• The name "Olmec" means "rubber
people" in Nahuatl, the language of
the Nahuas.
• The earliest known civilization in
Mesoamerica.
• Known for the immense stone heads
they carved from a volcanic rock
called basalt.
OLMEC CITIES AND TRADING
Olmec prosperity was initially
based on exploiting the fertile and
well-watered coastal areas of the
Gulf of Mexico to grow such crops
as corn and beans (often twice-
yearly) which allowed for an
agricultural surplus.
OLMEC CITIES AND TRADING
• Urban centers developed at San Lorenzo
(the earliest), La Venta, Laguna de los
Cerros, Tres Zapotes and Las Limas.
• The three sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta
and Laguna de los Cerros all had a
bilateral symmetry in their planning and
at La Venta the first pyramid in
Mesoamerica was constructed.
The Great Pyramid in La Venta
OLMEC CITIES AND TRADING
• Typical Olmec trade goods included obsidian, jade, serpentine,
mica, rubber, pottery, feathers and polished mirrors of ilmenite
and magnetite.
• Trading helped the Olmec build their urban centers of San
Lorenzo and La Venta.
• Individual homes had a lean-to—sort of like a garage shed—
and a storage pit for storing root vegetables nearby.
• They also likely had gardens in which the Olmec would grow
medicinal herbs and small crops, like sunflowers.
OLMEC
RELIGION
Olmec people have centered their religion around five key aspects: specific
cosmology, deities who controlled the natural world, shamans and rulers who were
intermediaries between such deities and the common Olmec people, rituals
centering around ideas of the cosmos led by this ruling class, and sacred sites.
OLMEC
RELIGION
The Olmecs were polytheistic, believing in many gods who controlled the
natural forces of life. These gods took on human-like forms but had a more
frightful quality through also showing mixtures of feline, reptile, and bird-like
features.
OLMEC
COSMOLOGY
Olmec believed in three tiers of existence: the physical realm they inhabited, an
underworld and a sky realm, home of most of the gods. Their world was bound
together by the four cardinal points and natural boundaries such as rivers, the
ocean and mountains. The most important aspect of Olmec life was agriculture,
so it is no surprise that the Olmec agricultural/fertility cult, gods and rituals were
extremely important.
OLMEC
DEITIES
The Olmec had several deities whose images repeatedly appear in surviving
sculptures, stonecarvings and other artistic forms.
OLMEC SACRED
PLACES
The Olmecs considered certain
man-made and natural places
sacred. Man-made places
included temples, plazas and
ballcourts and natural places
included springs, caves,
mountaintops and rivers.
OLMEC
SHAMAN
Mesoamerican cultures which derived from the Olmec had full-time priests who
acted as intermediaries between the common people and the divine. There are
sculptures of shamans apparently transforming from humans into were-jaguars.
OLMEC RELIGIOS RITUALS AND
CEREMONIES
The presence of ceremonial objects, such as stingray spines for
bloodletting, indicate that there were, indeed, important rituals, but any
details of said ceremonies have been lost to time. Human bones -
particularly of infants - have been found at some sites, suggesting human
sacrifice, which was later important among the Maya, Aztec and other
cultures.
OLMEC
ART
• The Olmec Culture is defined and unified by a specific art
style. Crafted in a variety of materials – jade, clay, basalt,
and greenstone, which is an archaelogist's term for carve,
green colored minerals – much Olmec art is naturalistic.
• Other art expresses fantastic anthropomorphic human
shaped creatures, often highly stylized, using an
iconography reflective of a religious meaning. Common
motifs include downturned mouths and cleft hands, both
which are seen in representations of were jaguars and the
rain diety.
OLMEC
ART
• The Olmec were gifted artist who produced stone carvings, wood carvings,
and cave paintings. They made carvings of all sizes from tiny celts and
figurines to massive stone heads
.
OLMEC
Some Olmec Art:
ART
• Olmec Colossal Heads
• The Lord of Las Limas
• Olmec Figurines
• Olmec Mask
• Olmec Jade
• Offering # 4, La Venta
• Kunz Axe
IMPORTANCE OF OLMEC
ART
• As artists, the Olmec were centuries ahead of their time. Many modern
Mexican artists find inspiration in their Olmec heritage.
• As the first great Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec were extremely
influential. Late-era Olmec reliefs look like Mayan art to the untrained eye,
and other cultures such as the Toltecs borrowed stylistically from them.
OLMEC COLOSSAL HEADS
• Olmec colossal heads: 17 monumental stone representations of human heads
• Made from basalt boulders
• Unique feature of Olmec civilization
• All portray mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses, and slightly crossed eyes.
However, none of the heads are alike, and each boasts a unique headdress, which
suggests they represent specific individuals.
OLMEC COLOSSAL
HEADS
• Olmec brought boulders from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz
• Monuments likely represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec rulers, possibly
commemorating their deaths
• Heads were arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centers
• Method and logistics of transporting the stones to the sites are uncertain
The Olmec are considered a “cultural hearth” by historians.
OLMEC COLOSSAL HEADS
THE END OF OLMECS
• The Olmec population declined sharply between 400 and 350 BCE, though it is
unclear why. Archaeologists speculate that the depopulation was caused by
environmental changes, specifically by the silting-up of rivers, which choked off the
water supply.
• Another theory for the considerable population drop proposes relocation of
settlements due to increased volcanic activity as the cause rather than extinction.
Volcanic eruptions during the Early, Late, and Terminal Formative periods would
have blanketed the lands with ash and forced the Olmec to move their settlements.
QUIZ TIME
QUIZ
• Where was the first pyramid in Mesoamerica constructed?
• Olmec known for the immense they carved from a
volcanic rock called basalt.
• What is the religion of Olmec people ?
• What man-made places considered by the olmec people as their
sacred place?
• Give atleast two Olmec Art.
QUIZ
6. Olmec art are crafted in a variety of materials, what are those materials?
7. The Olmec are considered a _____by historians.
8. The Olmec brought these boulders from
the _____ mountains of
Veracruz.
9. The Olmec population declined sharply between ___ and _______.
10. Archaeologists speculate that the depopulation was caused by ________.
