The Olmec heartland, where the Olmec reigned from 1200 to 400 BCE
Geographical range
Veracruz, Mexico
Period
Preclassic Era
Dates
c. 1200 – 400 BCE
Type site
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
Major sites
La Venta, Tres Zapotes, Laguna de los Cerros
Preceded by
Archaic Mesoamerica
Followed by
Epi-Olmecs
Olmec artworks
Olmec Head No. 3 from San Lorenzo-Tenochtitlán; 1200–900 BCE; basalt; height: 1.8 m, length: 1.28 m, width: 0.83 m; Xalapa Museum of Anthropology (Xalapa, Mexico)
El Señor de las Limas; 1000–600 BCE; greenstone; height: 55 cm; Xalapa Museum of Anthropology
The Wrestler; 1200–400 BCE; basalt; height: 66 cm, from the Arroyo Sonso area (Veracruz, Mexico); Museo Nacional de Antropología. Olmec artists are known for both monumental and miniature portrayals of what are assumed to be persons of authority-from six-ton heads sculptures to figurines.
The Olmecs (/ˈɒlmɛks,ˈoʊl-/) were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures.
The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1200 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz.[1] They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed.[2] Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, particularly the colossal heads.[3] The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking.[4]
^Diehl, Richard A. (2004). The Olmecs : America's First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 9–25. ISBN 0-500-28503-9.
^See Pool (2007) p. 2. Although there is wide agreement that the Olmec culture helped lay the foundations for the civilizations that followed, there is disagreement over the extent of the Olmec contributions, and even a proper definition of the Olmec "culture". See "Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures" for a deeper treatment of this question.
^See, as one example, Diehl, p. 11.
^See Diehl, p. 108 for the "ancient America" superlatives. The artist and archaeologist Miguel Covarrubias (1957) p. 50 says that Olmec pieces are among the world's masterpieces
It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures. The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's...
(62 mi) inland from the coast. The Olmecs are regarded as the first civilization to develop in Mesoamerica and the Olmec heartland is one of six cradles...
later pre-Columbian era cultures. The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmecs, developed on present-day Mexico southern Gulf Coast in the centuries before...
Olmec hieroglyphs are a set of glyphs developed within the Olmec culture. The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing...
Regional Perspectives on the Olmec. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36332-7. Diehl, Richard A. (2004). The Olmecs: America's First Civilization...
writers suggest that the Olmecs were related to peoples of Africa - based primarily on their interpretation of facial features of Olmec statues. They additionally...
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...
Priests, that started in October 2017. The team took its name from the Olmecs, a Mesoamerican civilization, known for their stone colossal heads, hence...
civilizations were functional without Olmec influence and describing the Olmecs as the "mother culture" robs the Olmecs and the other civilizations of their...
Jaguar-Human Copulation Scenes in Olmec Art". American Antiquity 43(3): 453-457. Diehl, Richard (2004). The Olmecs: America's First Civilization. Ancient...
1500 to 500 BC) the Olmecs fashioned mirrors from iron ore, including minerals such as hematite, ilmenite and magnetite. The Olmecs preferred to manufacture...
Coe disputing the Justeson-Kaufman findings. Diehl, Richard A. (2004) The Olmecs: America's First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London. Houston, Stephen...
Civilization: Discovering the Olmec. New York: The Smithsonian Library. Coe, Michael D.; Rex Koontz (2002). Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs (5th edition...
causes and degree of Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures has been a subject of debate over many decades. Although the Olmecs are considered to be...
host, while Dee Baker is both announcer and voice of a stone head named Olmec who "knows the secrets behind each of the treasures in his temple." Six...
The Olmecas de Tabasco (English: Tabasco Olmecs) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. Their home...
amounted to rock-solid proof that the Olmecs had a form of writing. Diehl has believed "all along" that the Olmecs possessed the ability to write and discovery...
Common names: Tuxtlan jumping pitviper, Olmecan pitviper Metlapilcoatlus olmec is a venomous pitviper species found in Mexico. No subspecies are currently...
cultures. After the decline of the Olmecs, other civilisations in Mesoamerica either arose or emerged from the Olmec shadow - the Mayans, the Zapotecs...
book Fingerprints of the Gods, featuring hypothesises on the origin of the Olmecs. Stirling, p. 5. Pool, p. 250. Pool, p. 246. Williams and Heizer, p. 9....
Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs (4th ed.). New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-27722-5. Diehl, Richard A. (2004). The Olmecs: America's First...
was founded and inhabited by the ancestors of today's Otomi people. The Olmecs, on the other hand, had entered into an expansionist phase that led them...
America. These were made by several pre-Columbian cultures including the Olmecs, Maya, Toltecs, and Aztecs. In most cases they were made by city states...
Auction, 41(6), 145–146. Coe, Michael D.; Rex Koontz (2002). Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs (5th edition, revised and enlarged ed.). London and New York:...
fiction. During their journey, the travelers encounter the Mayas, Incas, and Olmecs. They discover many lost technological wonders of the Mu Empire, including...
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