Olmecs

The term “Olmec” derives from Olmeca-Xicalanca, the Aztec name for conquest-era Gulf Coast traders. This designation, however, is not without problems given the ethnic and historical links it implies. Indeed, “Olmec” refers to two things: (1) an art style and symbolic system widely dispersed throughout Mesoamerica; and (2) a pre-Columbian culture that flourished from 1200 to 600 B.C. along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, specifically in southern Veracruz and western Tabasco. Both of these definitions acknowledge the culture's impact on the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican world; however, debate persists concerning the nature and development of this impact.

Occupation of the Gulf Coast's lowlands, which comprised the Olmec heartland, occurred as early as 2200 B.C. After 1200 B.C., identifiable characteristics of Olmec culture crystallized. Members of the culture may have collectively spoken an early version of the Mixe-Zoque language. Egalitarian farming communities developed into a multi-tiered hierarchical system of settlement, which integrated towns, smaller villages, tiny hamlets, craft workshops, and isolated sacred spaces. Within this system, the archaeological sites of San Lorenzo, Laguna de Los Cerros, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes were four important centers, which were located in distinct ecōzones. Recent archaeological projects involving survey and excavation have documented considerable and long-term occupation within these centers' cores, as well as in their adjacent hinterlands. This finding has effectively debunked the long-held belief that these sites functioned as vacant ceremonial centers.

San Lorenzo, the earliest of the known Olmec centers, was established around 1200 B.C. The center is located atop a low hill looking out over the Río Chiquito, an arm of the Río Coatzalcoalcos. Most likely, this location facilitated movement of ideas, goods, and people. Between 1150 and 900 B.C., the center's inhabitants leveled San Lorenzo's hilltop and erected earthen terraces, an endeavor requiring considerable human labor. By 900 B.C., San Lorenzo's population had declined, and for reasons not yet understood, the center was eventually abandoned. Following San Lorenzo's decline, the sites of La Venta and Laguna de Los Cerros rose in prominence. Ongoing research at Laguna de Los Cerros has shed light upon the site's history and recognized its prime geographic location. While investigations at Laguna de Los Cerros have been recently initiated, La Venta has long been a focus of researchers' interests and is the most intensively investigated of the Olmec sites. Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge first documented the site in 1926, incorrectly identifying it as Maya. Subsequent research at La Venta drew attention to the [Page 1769]Olmecs' substantial population levels, complex sociopolitical organization, and far-reaching trade networks. The site is located atop a salt dome and surrounded by marshes. In keeping with placement of lowland sites near rivers, La Venta overlooked the Río Palma, which has since run dry. The center's most distinguishing architectural feature is the Great Pyramid, an artificial “mountain” approximately 100 feet high. Despite heat, humidity, and periodic flooding, the center's apogee extended for three centuries. By 400 B.C., the site was abandoned. Tres Zapotes emerged as an important center following La Venta's demise. Despite being distinguished as the first archaeologically investigated Olmec center, Tres Zapotes is less remarkable in size and sociopolitical stature. In 1939, Matthew and Marion Stirling commenced the long history of research conducted at the site. In more recent work, David Grove has highlighted the upland environment in which Tres Zapotes is situated, arguing that its proximity to specific, local resources like basalt would have facilitated commercial relationships with lowland centers to the east. The same hypothesis can be extended to Laguna de Los Cerros, which was also located on the western edge of the Olmec heartland. Recent work has found that occupation of Tres Zapotes extended into the Classic period (ca. 300 B.C.–A.D. 300), debunking the idea of an Olmec “collapse.” In this period, the inhabitants of Tres Zapotes retained elements of Olmec culture but also incorporated influences from elsewhere in Mesoamerica.

Source: © iStockphoto/Neil Sorenson.

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