American Indian studies.
Fahad502
werejaguars_and_giant_heads_2_.pptxWerejaguars and Giant Heads: The Olmec culture of Meso-America
“Mother culture” of Meso-American societies?
Ethnic/Culture group or cultural horizon?
Centers for political, trade or religious purposes?
Why does the culture “vanish?”
What is with the huge heads?
The Olmec Enigma…
Name given by archaeologists
Comes from Aztec/Mexica name for an older culture
Referred to their harvest of rubber from trees
Also : “Jaguar Mouth people”
Called themselves : Xi
Olmec = “rubber people” in Nahuatl
Rubber ball from Olmec site
1400 BCE (abt 3500 yrs. ago) to 400 BCE (2400 y.a.)
170 monuments in Olmec ‘heartland’
80% in the 3 largest centers: La Venta, San Lorenzo and Laguna de los Cerros
10% are large basalt heads (17 so far)
10 at San Lorenzo
4 at La Venta
2 at the Tres Zapotes
1 at Rancho la Cobata
#1(firsts)
Ritual centers
Ball courts
Math
Invention of “zero,”
Calendar / “long count”
The Olmec by the Numbers
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Tropical Lowland, Southeast Mexico
Modern States of Veracruz and
Tabasco
River Basins
Swampy lowland
Volcanic soils
Tehuantepec= “Hill of the Jaguar”
Location
Centers control specific resources
La Venta (eastern)
Coastal estuaries
Cacao
Rubber
Salt
San Lorenzo (central)
Floodplain and basin of Coatzacoalos River
Agricultural products
Laguna de los Cerros (western;Tuxtlas Mts.)
Basalt: sculpture, manos and metates (food processing equip.)
Olmec Centers
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan- oldest (1400 BCE- 900 BCE)
Really 3 sites: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, Potrero Nuevo and Loma del Zapote
Began as village, 1700 BCE
Agriculture (corn)
Fishing
Hunting
By 1250 BCE
Olmec pottery
Modification of natural mesa*
1250-1150 BCE
Monument carving (basalt chips)
Olmec black and white pottery
Beginnings
1150-900 BCE
Earthen mounds and plaza
Elite residences
8 heads and other monuments
Stone “Drain” system- Aqueducts
drinking water
Some stones in system are monuments –
sacred purpose too
Ball court at nearby site El Manati
New building stops abt. 900 BCE;
Monuments destroyed 950 BCE*
By the Olmec themselves
San Lorenzo
Throne, not altar
Priest ruler depicted in niche
La Venta ‘altar’
Werejaguar Child : depicted as limp, being held by male figure
900- 400 BCE
Succeeds San Lorenzo
Clay and earth pyramids, platforms
“Great Pyramid”
Plazas, mosaics of greenstone blocks
Planned city
Symmetrical layout of buildings
4 Stone heads
Large # offerings- jade, magnetite
La Venta
The Abuela figure, with bowl
Figures w/ mix human/jaguar traits
depicted as infants/children
Assoc. w/ jaguar rain/water god
Also with
leadership
Werejaguars
Similar images seen Ecuador, Peru (Chavin de Hauntar)
Related to Shamanic beliefs
Transformation?
Spirit guide /protector (nagual)
Jaguar and spirituality
Represent people who have variant of Down’s Syndrome
Represent genetic condition in the leading dynasty
Represent belief in a human/jaguar hybrid
No evidence in the population based on mortuary remains
Same leader appears with and without jaguar traits on diff. objects
No evidence of a “dynastic line”
Some of the objects aren’t werejaguars, but other spirits/ spirit creatures
Caiman
Toads
Feathered Serpents
Maize god
Interpretations / Counter.
Settled about 1400 BCE
Regional center by 1200 BCE
100+ mounds
47 associated sites
stone workshops
Villages
No complete stone heads
Laguna de los Cerros
Huehueteotl: “Old God” in Nahuatl- god of fire and hearth
The Olmec Heads
Past
Images of ball players (helmets)
Images of leaders who were ball players
African or Chinese migration
Now:
Look like people of region
Glyphs on “helmet” name the person depicted
Stones = stylized depictions or memorial to leader
No evidence migration of new people
Interpretations
Most Olmec live in villages
Farmers
Only elites in centers
Ctr. for trade, religious ceremonies etc.
Leadership = theocracy
Shaman/priest/King
Chosen by strength spiritual power?
Thrones destroyed/recycled into heads on death of leader
Some heads made from thrones
Artisan class- specialized art work, trade goods
Supported by elite, trade
Everyday Life
No “Disappearance”
Change in leadership, beliefs
Abandonment of centers
Smaller settlements remain
No one sponsoring artists= no more monuments
What this means:
Spoke Mixe-Zoquean
Clues from glyphs
Still spoken in region
Olmec pottery, art style show up all over Meso-Am.
Some clearly trade
Some local copying
So: Olmec = ethnic/cultural group
Influence, interaction (trade) through Meso-America
Influence of religion
Diffusion of Maize growing techniques?
Later groups, such as Aztec, revered Olmec objects and curated them
Ethnic grp vs. culture horiz.?
No
“Sisterculture”
Maya writing system at same time/slightly ahead
Other cultures show complexity too.
Monument building as measure of civilization from Euro-centric/ethnocentric ideas.
Yes
Olmec Pantheon is basis for later Meso-American religion
Ritual of bloodletting spreads to later cultures
Originate the ball game as central cultural metaphor
Trade spread Olmec influence
Final Mystery: ‘Motherculture’?
