Olmec hieroglyphs are a set of glyphs developed within the Olmec culture. The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing during the formative period (1500–400 BCE) in the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco.[1] The subsequent Epi-Olmec culture (300 BCE to 250 CE), was a successor culture to the Olmec and featured the Isthmian script, which has been characterized as a full-fledged writing system, though with its partial decipherment being disputed.
There is no scholarly consensus whether Olmec hieroglyphs represent language, or are a system of proto-writing; the possible existence of writing during Middle and Late Olmec periods has been a matter of long-standing debate. Direct evidence includes the appearance of individual (potential) glyphs as well as the singleton Cascajal Block that bears a potential text. Indirect evidence includes similarities in calendar and writing systems between subsequent Mesoamerican cultures, for which the Olmecs are sometimes considered a mother culture.[2]
^Diehl, Richard A. (2004). The Olmecs : America's First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 9–25. ISBN 0-500-28503-9.
^"Esta gran cultura, que encontramos en niveles antiguos, es sin duda madre de otras culturas, como la maya, la teotihuacana, la zapoteca, la de El Tajín, y otras” ("This great culture, which we encounter in ancient levels, is without a doubt mother of other cultures, like the Maya, the Teotihuacana, the Zapotec, that of El Tajin, and others".) Caso (1942), p. 46.
Olmechieroglyphs are a set of glyphs developed within the Olmec culture. The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing...
are often called hieroglyphs due to the iconic shapes of many of the glyphs, a pattern superficially similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Fifteen distinct...
block San Andrés (Mesoamerican site) Epi-Olmec culture Olmechieroglyphs "Mask with Incised Design in Epi-Olmec Script". Pérez de Lara and Justeson. Justeson...
decade of the 21st century, evidence emerged of Olmec writing, with the earliest examples of Olmechieroglyphs dating to around 650 BC. Examples of script...
cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Cretan hieroglyphs, Chinese characters, the Indus script, and Olmechieroglyphs. Cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese characters...
Olmec artworks The Olmecs (/ˈɒlmɛks, ˈoʊl-/) were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco...
example in the Americas of what may be an extensive written text. The Olmechieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated (from ceramic shards found in the...
solely on the text on the Cascajal Block, but existence of a system of Olmechieroglyphs has been postulated independently from the Cascajal Block on the basis...
"hieroglyphics" or hieroglyphs by early European explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries who found its general appearance reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs, although...
epic poetry Kharosthi Pali literature List of historic Indian texts Olmechieroglyphs Maya script Old Chinese Chinese classics The pre-Qin corpus: a collection...
Justeson, John S., and Terrence Kaufman (1993), "A Decipherment of Epi-OlmecHieroglyphic Writing" in Science, Vol. 259, 19 March 1993, pp. 1703–11. Justeson...
the Old World), while the Caral-Supe civilization of coastal Peru and the Olmec civilization of Mexico are believed to be the earliest in Americas - previously...
partially deciphered. Issyk inscription Cretan hieroglyphs, c. 2100 BC. Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs are both believed to be an example of the Minoan...
1976 paper co-authored with Lyle Campbell, he advanced a theory that the Olmecs spoke a Mixe–Zoquean language, based on the substantial presence of early...
Classic to Postclassic periods, with butterflies representing flames. The Olmecs of the Preclassic period fashioned concave mirrors that were capable of...
technologically relevant. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf Coast of Mexico and extended inland and...
the invention of the Olmec. Indeed, many of the earliest Long Count dates were found within the Olmec heartland. However, the Olmec civilization had come...
(July 1997). "A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment". Science. 277 (5323): 207. doi:10...
may have been Kooja. It is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya features. The site flourished in the Preclassic and Classic periods...
oldest Zapotec writing by approximately 500 years. It is thought to be Olmec. Of several pre-Columbian scripts in Mesoamerica, the one that appears to...
cuneiform spread in the Middle East. Egypt developed its own system of hieroglyphs by about 3200 BC. By 2800 BC the Indus Valley civilization had developed...
in a dynamic relationship with neighbouring cultures that included the Olmecs, Mixtecs, Teotihuacan, and Aztecs. During the Early Classic period, the...
(2004) The Olmecs: America's First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London. Justeson, John S., and Kaufman, Terrence (2001) Epi-OlmecHieroglyphic Writing...
extent arbitrary. Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic – the writing systems of Ancient Egypt Egyptian hieroglyphs Anatolian hieroglyphs – Luwian Cuneiform...
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