Monument 19, from La Venta (1200–400 BC), the earliest known representation of a feathered serpent in Mesoamerica. Courtesy George & Audrey DeLange, used with permission.
The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernatural in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian era cultures.
The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmecs, developed on present-day Mexico southern Gulf Coast in the centuries before 1200 BCE. The culture lasted until roughly 400 BCE, at which time their center of La Venta lay abandoned. The Olmec culture is often considered a "mother culture" to later Mesoamerican cultures.
There is no surviving direct account of the Olmec's religious beliefs, unlike the Mayan Popol Vuh, or the Aztecs with their many codices and conquistador accounts. Archaeologists, therefore, have had to rely on other techniques to reconstruct Olmec beliefs, most prominently:[1]
Typological analysis of Olmec iconography and art.
Comparison to later, better documented pre-Columbian cultures.
Comparison to modern-day cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
The latter two techniques assume that there is a continuity extending from Olmec times through later Mesoamerican cultures to the present day. This assumption is called the Continuity Hypothesis. Using these techniques, researchers have discerned several separate deities or supernaturals embodying the characteristics of various animals.
The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica. Scholars have seen echoes...
Olmec artworks The Olmecs (/ˈɒlmɛks, ˈoʊl-/) were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco...
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edited by Sîn-lēqi-unninni. 1200 BC: The Greek Dark Age began. 1200 BC: The Olmecs built the earliest pyramids and temples in Central America. 877 BC – 777...
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Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317.7 Pool, Christopher A. (2007). Olmec Archaeology and Early...
figurines were produced in the Olmec heartland, they bear the hallmarks and motifs of Olmec culture. While the extent of Olmec control over the areas beyond...
engineer and popular science writer Peter David Joralemon, writer on Olmecreligion Roy J. Joroleman, designer of the Jorolemon mailbox used in the United...
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the chocolate bean and/or its processed forms. Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures Olmecreligion Love and Kaplan (2011) point out that scholarship...
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Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian script, all of which date...
civilizations prominently featured a jaguar god, and for many, such as the Olmec, the jaguar was an important part of religious practice. For those who resided...
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