Olmec Civilization

{Believed to be Native Americans}

By

Dr. S.N. Suresh

Olmec

The Olmec were an ancient Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical

lowlands of south-central Mexico, in what are roughly the modern-day states of
Veracruz and Tabasco.

The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's Formative period, dating roughly from
1400 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid
many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. [1] Among other "firsts",
there is evidence that the Olmec practiced ritual bloodletting and played the
Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican
societies.

The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly-
named colossal heads.[2] In fact, the Olmec civilization was first defined through
artifacts 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
and beautiful, and among the world's masterpieces.[3]

Overview

The Olmec heartland where the Olmecs reigned from 1400 - 400 BCE.

The "Olmec heartland" is an archaeological term used to describe an area in the

Gulf lowlands that is generally considered the birthplace of the Olmec culture. This
area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and
volcanoes. The Tuxtlas Mountains rise sharply in the north, along the Gulf of
Mexico's Bay of Campeche. Here the Olmecs constructed permanent city-temple
complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los
Cerros. In this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization would emerge and reign
from c.1400–400 BCE.[4]

Origins

What we today call Olmec first appears within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán,
where distinctive Olmec features appear around 1400 BCE. The rise of civilization
here was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the
transportation network that the Coatzacoalcos River basin provided. This
environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization: the
Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys, and Mesopotamia. This highly productive
environment encouraged a densely concentrated population which in turn triggered
the rise of an elite class.[5] It was this elite class that provided the social basis for the
production of the symbolic and sophisticated luxury artifacts that define Olmec
culture.[6] Many of these luxury artifacts, such as jade, obsidian and magnetite,
came from distant locations and suggest that early Olmec elites had access to an
extensive trading network in Mesoamerica. The source of the most valued jade, for
example, is found in the Motagua River valley in eastern Guatemala,[7] and Olmec
obsidian has been traced to sources in the Guatemala highlands, such as El Chayal
and San Martín Jilotepeque, or in Puebla,[8] distances ranging from 200 to 400 km
away (120 - 250 miles away) respectively.[9]

La Venta

The first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at
about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence.[10] A wholesale destruction
of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may point to
an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion.[11] The latest thinking, however, is
that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec
centers, with certain important rivers changing course.[12]
In any case, following the decline of San Lorenzo, La Venta became the most
prominent Olmec center, lasting from 900 BCE until its abandonment around 400
BCE.[13] La Venta sustained the Olmec cultural traditions, but with spectacular
displays of power and wealth. The Great Pyramid was the largest Mesoamerican
structure of its time. Even today, after 2500 years of erosion, it rises 34 meters above
the naturally flat landscape.[14] Buried deep within La Venta, lay opulent, labor-
intensive "Offerings": 1000 tons of smooth serpentine blocks, large mosaic
pavements, and at least 48 separate deposits of polished jade celts, pottery, figurines,
and hematite mirrors.[15]

Decline

It is not known with any clarity what caused the eventual extinction of the Olmec
culture. It is known that between 400 and 350 BCE, population in the eastern half of
the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area would remain sparsely
inhabited until the 19th century.[16] This depopulation was likely the result of "very
serious environmental changes that rendered the region unsuited for large groups of
farmers", in particular changes to the riverine environment that the Olmec
depended upon for agriculture, for hunting and gathering, and for transportation.
Archaeologists propose that these changes were triggered by tectonic upheavals or
subsidence, or the silting up of rivers due to agricultural practices.[17]

One theory for the considerable population drop during the Terminal Formative
period is suggested by Santley and colleagues (Santley et al. 1997) and proposes
shifts in settlement location [relocation] due to volcanism instead of extinction.
Volcanic eruptions during the Early, Late and Terminal Formative periods would
have blanketed the lands and forced the Olmecs to move their settlements[18]

Whatever the cause, within a few hundred years of the abandonment of the last
Olmec cities, successor cultures had become firmly established. The Tres Zapotes
site, on the western edge of the Olmec heartland, continued to be occupied well past
400 BCE, but without the hallmarks of the Olmec culture. This post-Olmec culture,
often labeled Epi-Olmec, has features similar to those found at Izapa, some 330
miles (550 km) to the southeast.[19]
Fish Vessel, 12th–9th century BCE.
Height: 6.5 inches (16.5 cm).

The Olmec culture was first defined as an art style, and this continues to be the
hallmark of the culture.[20] Wrought in a large number of mediums – jade, clay,
basalt, and greenstone among others – much Olmec art, such as the Wrestler, is
surprisingly naturalistic. Other art, however, reveals fantastic anthropomorphic
creatures, often highly stylized, using an iconography reflective of a religious
meaning.[21] Common motifs include downturned mouths and a cleft head, both of
which are seen in representations of were-jaguars.[22]

In addition to human and human-like subjects, Olmec artisans were adept at animal
portrayals, for example, the fish vessel to the right or the bird vessel in the gallery
below.

While Olmec figurines are found abundantly in sites throughout the Formative
Period, it is the stone monuments such as the colossal heads that are the most
recognizable feature of Olmec culture.[23] These monuments can be divided into four
classes:[24]

 Colossal heads
 Rectangular "altars" (more likely thrones) such as Altar 5 shown below.
  Free-standing in-the-round sculpture, such as the twins from El Azuzul or
San Martin Pajapan Monument 1.
 Stelae, such as La Venta Monument 19 above. The stelae form was generally
introduced later than the colossal heads, altars, or free-standing sculptures.
Over time stelae moved from simple representation of figures, such as
Monument 19 or La Venta Stela 1, toward representations of historical
events, particularly acts legitimizing rulers. This trend would culminate in
post-Olmec monuments such as La Mojarra Stela 1, which combines images
of rulers with script and calendar dates.[25]

Colossal heads

The most recognized aspect of the Olmec civilization are the enormous helmeted
heads.[26] As no known pre-Columbian text explains them, these impressive
monuments have been the subject of much speculation. Once theorized to be
ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers,
perhaps dressed as ballplayers.[27] Infused with individuality, no two heads are alike
and the helmet-like headdresses are adorned with distinctive elements, suggesting to
some personal or group symbols.[28]

There have been 17 colossal heads unearthed to date.[29]

Site Count Designations

San Lorenzo 10 Colossal Heads 1 through 10
La Venta 4 Monuments 1 through 4
Tres Zapotes 2 Monuments A & Q
Rancho la Cobata 1 Monument 1

The heads range in size from the Rancho La Cobata head, at 3.4 m high, to the pair
at Tres Zapotes, at 1.47 m. It has been calculated that the largest heads weigh
between 25 and 55 short tons (50 t).[30]

The heads were carved from single blocks or boulders of volcanic basalt, found in
the Tuxtlas Mountains. The Tres Zapotes heads, for example, were sculpted from
basalt found at the summit of Cerro el Vigía, at the western end of the Tuxtlas. The
San Lorenzo and La Venta heads, on the other hand, were likely carved from the
basalt of Cerro Cintepec, on the southeastern side,[31] perhaps at the nearby Llano
del Jicaro workshop, and dragged or floated to their final destination dozens of
miles away.[32] It has been estimated that moving a colossal head required the efforts
of 1,500 people for three to four months.[33]

"Olmec-style" face mask in jade

Some of the heads, and many other monuments, have been variously mutilated,
buried and disinterred, reset in new locations and/or reburied. It is known that
some monuments, and at least two heads, were recycled or recarved, but it is not
known whether this was simply due to the scarcity of stone or whether these actions
had ritual or other connotations. It is also suspected that some mutilation had
significance beyond mere destruction, but some scholars still do not rule out internal
conflicts or, less likely, invasion as a factor.[34]
The flat-faced, thick-lipped characteristics of the heads and the woolly texture of
similarly Africanized braiding present on the rear of some heads has caused some
debate due to the apparent resemblance to African facial characteristics. Based on
this comparison, some have insisted that the Olmecs were Africans who had
emigrated to the New World.[35] However, claims of pre-Columbian contacts with
Africa are rejected by the vast majority of archeologists and other Mesoamerican
scholars.[36] Explanations for the facial features of the colossal heads include the
possibility that the heads were carved in this manner due to the shallow space
allowed on the basalt boulders. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and
thick lips, the eyes of the heads have the Asian epicanthic fold, and that all these
characteristics can still be found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. To support this,
in the 1940s artist/art historian Miguel Covarrubias published a series of photos of
Olmec artworks and of the faces of modern Mexican Indians with very similar facial
characteristics.[37] In addition, the African origin hypothesis assumes that Olmec
carving was intended to be realistic, an assumption that is hard to justify given the
full corpus of representation in Olmec carving.[38]

Jade face masks

Another type of artifact is much smaller; hardstone carvings in jade of a face in a

mask form. Curators and scholars refer to "Olmec-style" face masks as despite
being Olmec in style, to date no example has been recovered in an archaeologically
controlled Olmec context. However they have been recovered from sites of other
cultures, including one deliberately deposited in the ceremonial precinct of
Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), which would presumably have been about 2,000 years
old when the Aztecs buried it, suggesting these were valued and collected as Roman
antiquities were in Europe.[39]

Beyond the heartland

Main article: Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures

The major Formative Period (Pre-Classic Era) sites in present-day Mexico which
show Olmec influences in the archaeological record.

Olmec-style artifacts, designs, figurines, monuments and iconography have been

found in the archaeological records of sites hundreds of kilometres outside the
Olmec heartland. These sites include:[40]

 Tlatilco and Tlapacoya, major centers of the Tlatilco culture in the Valley of
Mexico, where artifacts include hollow baby-face motif figurines and Olmec
designs on ceramics.
 Chalcatzingo, in Valley of Morelos, which features Olmec-style monumental
art and rock art with Olmec-style figures.
 Teopantecuanitlan, in Guerrero, which features Olmec-style monumental art
as well as city plans with distinctive Olmec features.

Other sites showing probable Olmec influence include San Bartolo, Takalik Abaj
and La Democracia in Guatemala and Zazacatla in Morelos. The Juxtlahuaca and
Oxtotitlan cave paintings feature Olmec designs and motifs.[41]

Many theories have been advanced to account for the occurrence of Olmec influence
far outside the heartland, including long-range trade by Olmec merchants, Olmec
colonization of other regions, Olmec artisans travelling to other cities, conscious
imitation of Olmec artistic styles by developing towns – some even suggest the
prospect of Olmec military domination or that the Olmec iconography was actually
developed outside the heartland.[42]

The generally accepted, but by no means unanimous, interpretation is that the

Olmec-style artifacts, in all sizes, became associated with elite status and were
adopted by non-Olmec Formative Period chieftains in an effort to bolster their
status.[43]

Notable innovations

In addition to their influence with contemporaneous Mesoamerican cultures, as the

first civilization in Mesoamerica, the Olmecs are credited, or speculatively credited,
with many "firsts", including the bloodletting and perhaps human sacrifice, writing
and epigraphy, and the invention of zero and the Mesoamerican calendar, and the
Mesoamerican ballgame, as well as perhaps the compass.[44] Some researchers,
including artist and art historian Miguel Covarrubias, even postulate that the
Olmecs formulated the forerunners of many of the later Mesoamerican deities.[45]

Bloodletting and sacrifice speculations

Altar 5 from La Venta. The inert were-jaguar baby held by the central figure is seen
by some as an indication of child sacrifice. In contrast, its sides show bas-reliefs of
humans holding quite lively were-jaguar babies.

Although there is no explicit representation of Olmec bloodletting in the

archaeological record,[46] there is nonetheless a strong case that the Olmecs ritually
practiced it. Numerous natural and ceramic stingray spikes and maguey thorns, for
example, have been found at Olmec sites,[47] and certain artifacts have been
identified as bloodletters (see this Commons photo).[48]

The argument that the Olmecs instituted human sacrifice is significantly more
speculative. No Olmec or Olmec-influenced sacrificial artifacts have yet been
discovered and there is no Olmec or Olmec-influenced artwork that unambiguously
shows sacrificial victims (similar, for example, to the danzante figures of Monte
Albán) or scenes of human sacrifice (such as can be seen in the famous ballcourt
mural from El Tajin).[49]

However, at the El Manatí site, disarticulated skulls and femurs as well as complete
skeletons of newborn or unborn children have been discovered amidst the other
offerings, leading to speculation concerning infant sacrifice. It is not yet known,
though, how the infants met their deaths.[50] Some authors have also associated
infant sacrifice with Olmec ritual art showing limp were-jaguar babies, most
famously in La Venta's Altar 5 (to the left) or Las Limas figure.[51] Any definitive
answer will need to await further findings.

Writing

The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to
develop a writing system. Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date to 650 BCE[52] and
900 BCE[53] respectively, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing dated to about 500
BCE.[54][55]

The 2002 find at the San Andrés site shows a bird, speech scrolls, and glyphs that
are similar to the later Mayan hieroglyphs.[56] Known as the Cascajal Block, the
2006 find from a site near San Lorenzo, shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are
unique, carved on a serpentine block. A large number of prominent archaeologists
have hailed this find as the "earliest pre-Columbian writing".[57] Others are
skeptical because of the stone's singularity, the fact that it had been removed from
any archaeological context, and because it bears no apparent resemblance to any
other Mesoamerican writing system.[58]
There are also well-documented later hieroglyphs known as "Epi-Olmec," and
while there are some who believe that Epi-Olmec may represent a transitional script
between an earlier Olmec writing system and Mayan writing, the matter remains
unsettled.

Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and invention of the zero concept

The back of Stela C from Tres Zapotes

This is the second oldest Long Count date yet discovered. The numerals 7.16.6.16.18
translate to September 3, 32 BCE (Julian). The glyphs surrounding the date are one
of the few surviving examples of Epi-Olmec script.[59]

The Long Count calendar used by many subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, as

well as the concept of zero, may have been devised by the Olmecs. Because the six
artifacts with the earliest Long Count calendar dates were all discovered outside the
immediate Maya homeland, it is likely that this calendar predated the Maya and
was possibly the invention of the Olmecs. Indeed, three of these six artifacts were
found within the Olmec heartland. But an argument against an Olmec origin is the
fact that the Olmec civilization had ended by the 4th century BCE, several centuries
before the earliest known Long Count date artifact.[60]

The Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder within its

vigesimal (base-20) positional numeral system. A shell glyph — — was used as a

zero symbol for these Long Count dates, the second oldest of which, on Stela C at
Tres Zapotes, has a date of 32 BCE. This is one of the earliest uses of the zero
concept in history.[61]
Mesoamerican ballgame

The Olmec, whose name means "rubber people" in the Nahuatl language of the
[62]
Aztecs, are strong candidates for originating the Mesoamerican ballgame so
prevalent among later cultures of the region and used for recreational and religious
purposes.[63] A dozen rubber balls dating to 1600 BCE or earlier have been found in
El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog 10 kilometres east of San Lorenzo
Tenochtitlan.[64] These balls predate the earliest ballcourt yet discovered at Paso de
la Amada, circa 1400 BCE, although there is no certainty that they were used in the
ballgame.[65]

Daily life

Ethnicity and language

While the actual ethno-linguistic affiliation of the Olmec remain unknown, various
hypotheses have been put forward. For example, in 1968 Michael D. Coe speculated
that the Olmec were Mayan predecessors.[66]

In 1976 linguists Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman published a paper in which
they argued a core number of loanwords had apparently spread from a Mixe-
Zoquean language into many other Mesoamerican languages.[67] Campbell and
Kaufman proposed that the presence of these core loanwords indicated that the
Olmec—generally regarded as the first "highly civilized" Mesoamerican society—
spoke a language ancestral to Mixe-Zoquean. The spread of this vocabulary
particular to their culture accompanied the diffusion of other Olmec cultural and
artistic traits that appears in the archaeological record of other Mesoamerican
societies.

Mixe-Zoque specialist Søren Wichmann first critiqued this theory on the basis that
most of the Mixe-Zoquean loans seemed to originate from the Zoquean branch of
the family only. This implied the loanword transmission occurred in the period after
the two branches of the language family split, placing the time of the borrowings
outside of the Olmec period.[68] However new evidence has pushed back the
proposed date for the split of Mixean and Zoquean languages to a period within the
Olmec era.[69] Based on this dating, the architectural and archaeological patterns
and the particulars of the vocabulary loaned to other Mesoamerican languages from
Mixe-Zoquean, Wichmann now suggests that the Olmecs of San Lorenzo spoke
proto-Mixe and the Olmecs of La Venta spoke proto-Zoque.[70]

At least the fact that the Mixe-Zoquean languages still are, and are historically
known to have been, spoken in an area corresponding roughly to the Olmec
heartland, leads most scholars to assume that the Olmec spoke one or more Mixe-
Zoquean languages.[71]

Religion and mythology

Main article: Olmec religion

Las Limas Monument 1, considered an important realisation of Olmec mythology.

The youth holds a were-jaguar infant, while four iconic supernaturals are incised on
the youth's shoulders and knees.

Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time

priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important religious
figures, with their links to the Olmec deities or supernaturals providing legitimacy
for their rule.[72] There is also considerable evidence for shamans in the Olmec
archaeological record, particularly in the so-called "transformation figures".[73]

Olmec mythology has left no documents comparable to the Popul Vuh from Maya
mythology, and therefore any exposition of Olmec mythology must rely on
interpretations of surviving monumental and portable art (such as the Las Limas
figure at right), and comparisons with other Mesoamerican mythologies. Olmec art
shows that such deities as the Feathered Serpent and a rain supernatural were
already in the Mesoamerican pantheon in Olmec times.[74]

Social and political organization

Little is directly known about the societal or political structure of Olmec society.
Although it is assumed by most researchers that the colossal heads and several other
sculptures represent rulers, nothing has been found like the Maya stelae (see
drawing) which name specific rulers and provide the dates of their rule.[75]

Instead, archaeologists relied on the data that they had, such as large- and small-
scale site surveys. These provided evidence of considerable centralization within the
Olmec region, first at San Lorenzo and then at La Venta – no other Olmec sites
come close to these in terms of area or in the quantity and quality of architecture
and sculpture.[76]

This evidence of geographic and demographic centralization leads archaeologists to

propose that Olmec society itself was hierarchical, concentrated first at San Lorenzo
and then at La Venta, with an elite that was able to use their control over materials
such as water and monumental stone to exert command and legitimize their
regime.[77]

Nonetheless, Olmec society is thought to lack many of the institutions of later

civilizations, such as a standing army or priestly caste. [78] And there is no evidence
that San Lorenzo or La Venta controlled, even during their heyday, all of the Olmec
heartland.[79] There is some doubt, for example, that La Venta controlled even
Arroyo Sonso, only some 35 km away.[80] Studies of the Tuxtla Mountain
settlements, some 60 km away, indicate that this area was composed of more or less
egalitarian communities outside the control of lowland centers.[81]

Trade

The wide diffusion of Olmec artifacts and "Olmecoid" iconography throughout

much of Mesoamerica indicates the existence of extensive long-distance trade
networks. Exotic, prestigious and high-value materials such as greenstone and
marine shell were moved in significant quantities across large distances. While the
Olmec were not the first in Mesoamerica to organise long-distance exchanges of
goods, the Olmec period saw a significant expansion in interregional trade routes,
more variety in material goods exchanged and a greater diversity in the sources
from which the base materials were obtained.[82]

Village life and diet

Despite their size, San Lorenzo and La Venta were largely ceremonial centers, and
the majority of the Olmec lived in villages similar to present-day villages and
hamlets in Tabasco and Veracruz.[83]

These villages were located on higher ground and consisted of several scattered
houses. A modest temple may have been associated with the larger villages. The
individual dwellings would consist of a house, an associated lean-to, and one or more
storage pits (similar in function to a root cellar). A nearby garden was used for
medicinal and cooking herbs and for smaller crops such as the domesticated
sunflower. Fruit trees, such as avocado or cacao, were likely available nearby.

Although the river banks were used to plant crops between flooding periods, the
Olmecs also likely practiced swidden (or slash-and-burn) agriculture to clear the
forests and shrubs, and to provide new fields once the old fields were exhausted.[84]
Fields were located outside the village, and were used for maize, beans, squash,
manioc, sweet potato, as well as cotton. Based on archaeological studies of two
villages in the Tuxtlas Mountains, it is known that maize cultivation became
increasingly important to the Olmec over time, although the diet remained fairly
diverse.[85]

The fruits and vegetables were supplemented with fish, turtle, snake, and mollusks
from the nearby rivers, and crabs and shellfish in the coastal areas. Birds were
available as food sources, as were game including peccary, opossum, raccoon,
rabbit, and in particular deer.[86] Despite the wide range of hunting and fishing
available, midden surveys in San Lorenzo have found that the domesticated dog was
the single most plentiful source of animal protein.[87]

History of archaeological research

The jade Kunz Axe, first described by George Kunz in 1890. Although shaped like
an axe head, with an edge along the bottom, it is unlikely that this artifact was used
except in ritual settings. At a height of 11 in (28 cm), it is one of the largest jade
objects ever found in Mesoamerica.[88]

Olmec culture was unknown to historians until the mid-19th century. In 1869 the
Mexican antiquarian traveller José Melgar y Serrano published a description of the
first Olmec monument to have been found in situ. This monument—the colossal
head now labelled Tres Zapotes Monument A—had been discovered in the late
1850s by a farm worker clearing forested land on a hacienda in Veracruz. Hearing
about the curious find while travelling through the region, Melgar y Serrano first
visited the site in 1862 to see for himself and complete partially exposed sculpture's
excavation. His description of the object, published several years later after further
visits to the site, represents the earliest documented report of an artifact of what is
now known as the Olmec culture.[89]

In the latter half of the 19th century, Olmec artifacts such as the Kunz Axe (right)
came to light and were subsequently recognized as belonging to a unique artistic
tradition.

Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge made the first detailed descriptions of La Venta
and San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 during their 1925 expedition. However, at
this time most archaeologists assumed the Olmec were contemporaneous with the
Maya – even Blom and La Farge were, in their own words, "inclined to ascribe
them to the Maya culture".[90]
Matthew Stirling of the Smithsonian Institution conducted the first detailed
scientific excavations of Olmec sites in the 1930s and 1940s. Stirling, along with art
historian Miguel Covarrubias, became convinced that the Olmec predated most
other known Mesoamerican civilizations.[91]

In counterpoint to Stirling, Covarrubias, and Alfonso Caso, however, Mayanists

Eric Thompson and Sylvanus Morley argued for Classic-era dates for the Olmec
artifacts. The question of Olmec chronology came to a head at a 1942 Tuxtla
Gutierrez conference, where Alfonso Caso declared that the Olmecs were the
"mother culture" ("cultura madre") of Mesoamerica.[92]

Shortly after the conference, radiocarbon dating proved the antiquity of the Olmec
civilization, although the "mother culture" question generates much debate even 60
years later.[93]

Etymology

The name "Olmec" means "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec,
and was the Aztec name for the people who lived in the Gulf Lowlands in the 15th
and 16th centuries, some 2000 years after the Olmec culture died out. The term
"rubber people" refers to the ancient practice, spanning from ancient Olmecs to
Aztecs, of extracting latex from Castilla elastica, a rubber tree in the area. The juice
of a local vine, Ipomoea alba, was then mixed with this latex to create rubber as
early as 1600 BCE.[94]

Early modern explorers and archaeologists, however, mistakenly applied the name
"Olmec" to the rediscovered ruins and artifacts in the heartland decades before it
was understood that these were not created by people the Aztecs knew as the
"Olmec", but rather a culture that was 2000 years older. Despite the mistaken
identity, the name has stuck.[95]

It is not known what name the ancient Olmec used for themselves; some later
Mesoamerican accounts seem to refer to the ancient Olmec as "Tamoanchan".[96] A
contemporary term sometimes used to describe the Olmec culture is tenocelome,
meaning "mouth of the jaguar".[97]
Alternative origin speculations

Main article: Olmec alternative origin speculations

See also: Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories

In part because the Olmecs developed the first Mesoamerican civilization and in
part because little is known of the Olmecs (relative, for example, to the Maya or
Aztec), a number of Olmec alternative origin speculations have been put forth.
Although several of these speculations, particularly the theory that the Olmecs were
of African origin popularized by Ivan van Sertima's book They Came Before
Columbus, have become well-known within popular culture, they are not considered
credible by the vast majority of Mesoamerican researchers.[98]

Gallery

"The Wrestler", an Monument 6, San

Olmec colossal head
Olmec era statuette,Olmec mask. Lorenzo
monument
1200 – 800 BCE. Tenochtitlan

One of the "twins"

from El Azuzul Bird Vessel, 12th–Three celts, OlmecOlmec were-
9th century BCE ritual objects. jaguar
Olmec style bottle, Olmec-style painting
reputedly from Las Olmec jade mask. from the
Bocas, 1100 - 800 BCE Juxtlahuaca cave.