The Olmec Civilization
The Olmec civilization: Starting from 1400 B.C to an abrupt end to 300 B.C. Many mysteries lie in the Olmec civilization and seem to never be recovered. But, there is a small portion of evidence supporting the existence of a civilization. The history of the civilization this is really broken up. They lived in the tropical lowlands in Mexico known today as Veracruz and Tabasco. They were known as “the rubber people” because they were known for their discovery on natural rubber. They started out like most civilizations: mostly hunting and the only thing they farmed was corn, beans and squash. Later on, they cultivate many more plants. The time of the Olmecs will be divided into four different ages: The Pre-Olmec, the Initial Olmec, the Intermediate Olmec, and the Terminal Olmec. All of which have their unique achievements and will describe their tradition.
The Pre -Olmec (1750-1400 B.C.E) which took place about before the Olmec civilization even began. At this time, it was mostly agriculturists that were known for their ceramics. In these areas, their small villages were on levees. These levees were built low and were broad. Stone bowls from this time may give evidence of stoneworking tradition. Their main resource use was of their highland’s obsidian. Also at this time, they started making long distanced trades.
The Initial Olmec (1400-1000 B.C.E) which is the start of this civilization is when the the first raised fields were built. The Olmec area had a very poor are to do agriculture in, causing problems. These were ridges that were built on swampy terrain which were separated by the channels of water. This was a way to make the plants irrigated. The next great site, San Lorenzo, was built. This place i...
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...ec artifacts actually represents a shared belief in local areas, not traded or spread by a lot. Since the Olmec artifacts are different in different areas, each area had it’s own Olmec-like beliefs. So that would mean they didn’t come from just one source, rather developed with other civilizations similar to them. So we would have look at each civilization as one independent belief rather than it all coming from one source. In fact, many civilizations were very different from other parts of mesoamerica.
The Olmec civilization was one of the first civilizations to come before anyone else. They are very little known for their writing or culture. There are many theories out there that can not be confirmed. The timeline seems very broken up and short to really know enough of the olmecs. There are questions to be answered like what they might’ve looked like and such.
The Kunz Axe is a votive axe that is associated with the Olmec culture. It was found in the hills of Oaxaca, Mexico by George Kunz in 1890. The axe appears to be dating around 800-500 BC, which is part of the Middle Formative period. Although this artifact is considered an axe, it does not mean that this was its function. The votive axe appears more of a sculpture and it is “more likely that it was used in ritual settings” (Milner Library, n.d.). The material that was used to made this artifact is jade. Because the artifact was made out of jade, it is believed that it was “reserved for the adornment of gods and royalty” (The Met, n.d.). The Kunz Axe has a blue green color and it is about eleven inches high. It appears to depict a human with
Teotihuacan was a huge metropolis in what is now southern Mexico. It became a large city before 100CE and reached the height of its size from about 600-650CE. At its height it was home to roughly 125,000 inhabitants. There is a permanent springs nearby the ancient city, and satellite photos have indicated the presence of a possible irrigation system with canals used to water farm sites. Although the age of the irrigation canals has yet to be established it seems to be highly probable that this canal system was created concurrently with the development of the city. This conclusion is also supported by a lack of rural population, which would have been necessary to provide food for such a large population if there wasn’t agriculture within the city. Because the food was not brought in from a great distance, the travel expenditure to get the food to the population would have been low. This allowed there to be a dense population concentration within the urban area. The expense of moving goods in the new world seems to have been a factor that limited the size of cities.
The Mayan Civilization was the oldest of the three, it sprang up around 2500 B.C.E. in present day Guatemala and covered the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula.
The people of early Mesoamerica had an abundance of different foods. One main food they had though in the 3 main groups (Aztecs, Olmecs, and Mayans) was maize. Maize is a corn like plant derived from teosinte that was domesticated around seven thousand B.C. to five thousand B.C.. Maize was about seventy percent of the Mesoamerican diet and around twenty one percent was meat . The Olmec’s had corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers (194). Each of their food items went in to a balanced diet of carbs, minerals, and vitamins. According to Concise Thematic Analysis “The Olmec system produced a food surplus that freed members of the community to take on specialized roles” (194) which just goes to show how much was around for them. Mayans ate corn and beans as their most important part of their diets, but also had some small domestic meats such as dog, turkey, duck, and fish. The Mayans also had honey and alcoholic drinks made from a stingless bee. The Aztecs had a good variety of plant foods as well with maize topping the charts of their diet with having other stable foods such as sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans chilies, squashes (also big in their diet), carrots, etc. They also, had a lot of animals to choose from but they did not
The Olmec, Mayan, and the Aztec Indians were very advanced civilizations for the 14th, 15th, and 16th century. They would used different kinds of resources found around them to create the technology they used to survive. For example the Olmec and the Mayans used cotton to create all kinds of garments, the Mayans also created a number system and their weapons and armor to go to war, the Aztecs adopted an education on how to hunt, how to fight, jewel cutting, metal polishing, song composition, science of the heavens, planing trees and flowers, cooking, cleaning, and many other things. Many cultures were influenced by these three civilizations as they had spread across the world and still use many of their techniques in our everyday lives.
The first culture spanning between 600-175 BC is the Paracas (Stone 56). Their name came from the place they inhabited, the Paracas Peninsula. “ ‘Paracas’ in Quechua means ‘sand falling like rain…’” as Stone quotes (57). Just the name itself shows how dry and arid the area they lived in was. They relied on fishing, farming in the Pisco Valley, and trading in order to make their life prosperous. As their numbers grew they began to bury their dead in “mummy bundles” due to the sandy a...
The Toltec civilization was one of the greatest Mesoamerican civilizations, prospering between 900 to 1150 CE. The Toltecs preceded the legendary Aztec civilization in Mesoamerica, who regarded them as their “great intellectual and cultural predecessors” (ancient.eu). They played a key role in maintaining the Mesoamerican culture that was passed down by several older civilizations including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, and Mayan civilizations. Much of what is known about the ancient Toltecs is derived from Aztec along with other Mesoamerican texts which document even older oral descriptions of historical events. The accuracy of these events, especially that of the Aztecan documents, has been questioned due to the tendency of the civilization to hyperbolize the feats of the Toltecs by combining historical truths with cultural myths. However, it cannot be argued that the Toltec civilization was vital in preserving the culture and ideology of the Mesoamerican region.
Architecture, like many things, can also be made for the use of or inspired by the symbols people believe in. Therefore, art and architecture in Ancient Mesoamerica can be stated to be made for the use of religious symbols. Making architecture and art forms takes effort, dedication, and patience. Architecture can take years to make, as was s...
Around 3500 B.C.E to 3000 B.C.E., civilizations emerged in many places. Egypt and Mesoamerica are distinctive two of them. Considering the different aspects of civilization, historians can find some same characteristics and differences which are valuable for historians to understand civilization in-depth.
The Maya Civilization originated in the Yucatán region during the Preclassic Period at around 2000 BC. There is some argument as to when the Preclassic Period began for the Maya. It 's argued to have began as late as 2600 BC, while there 's claim that it 's earlier because there are permanent Maya settlements along the Pacific coast that date to 1800 BC. A difference of eight hundred years, depending on region.
The Olmecs are the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization. Around 1200 B.C. the Olmecs originated as a primitive people living and farming on the shores of Mexico (Stanton 91). Soon, however, they began to build cities such as San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Monte Alban. These “cities” were religious centers where people gathered to worship, and were not populated (Stanton 91). The first of these centers, San Lorenzo, was built c. 1150 B.C., on a flat topped, man-made mountain. It was mysteriously abandoned 200 years later (Stanton 92-93). La Venta, built between 1000 and 600 B.C., sat on an island in a swamp (Stanton 93). Later, around 500 B.C., Monte Alban, which was used as a religious center even after the Olmecs faded, was built on an immense mountain (Stanton 93). The cities were made up of temples and plazas, and decorated by monumental stone heads, which weighed up to 50 tons (Stanton 93)! These heads probably represented their early kings and had distinct helmets (Kingfisher 32). It is incredible how the Olmec people transported the stone from the distant mountains to La Venta, near the shore, without the aid of work animals or carts. It appears that the Olmecs did this grueling work for their gods willingly, as there is no evidence of forced labor (Stanton 93). The Olmecs probably worshipped the jaguar, as it appears so often in their artwork. There are also many e...
Fagan, Brian M. (2001) "Mesoamerican Civilizations." The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World: Unlocking the Secrets of past Civilizations. New York: Thames & Hudson, 491-509.
Near 1800 B.C, the Maya people found settlement within Teotihuacan territory and quickly became known as one of the most dominant indigenous societies within Mesoamerica. Best known for their agricultural skills, pottery work, hieroglyphic writing, mathematics and of course calender making this civilization. However, the Maya were the regional groups of Olmec heritage who were the first major Mesoamerican civilization.(Grahm, Liz. 2014) In 1500 B.C, the Olmecs began the effective cultivation of the crops of corn, beans, chili peppers and cotton, along which they established fine arts and the use of symbols to record history. Due to the Olmecs innovative talents at the time, they were also able to branch off and establish other cities.
The ancient Aztecs, who most likely originated as a nomadic tribe in northern Mexico, arrived in Mesoamerica at approximately the beginning of the 13th century. For a long time, the nomads wandered the land of Mexica, countlessly resettling into new areas in a constant search for land that was fertile and that they could call their own. Before the founding of their capital city of Tenochtitlan in 1325, the Aztecs had to work for various cities and small empires that were more powerful than them in order to gain military experience and come out as the dominant force in central Mexico. Through developing an intricate social, political, religious and commercial organization, it was by the 15th century that the empire brought many of the region’s city-states under their control.
The Aztec people began as a nomadic group on the shores of Lake Texcoco in modern day Mexico. They eventually settled on a marshy island on the lake w...