The origin of the Olmecs
Ancient nomadic populations from the Neolithic found fertile places with a temperate climate in some areas of central Mexico and along the coast of the Caribbean Sea. Around 3000 BC, these groups of hunters and gatherers slowly transformed into farmers and their societies became sedentary, where the importance of the division of labor and elites grew more and more. Therefore, in the central area of Mexico and on the southern coast of the Caribbean Sea, embryos of towns began to form, each of which was governed by lords who belonged to the upper classes, who had access to innovations and Above all, they were the intermediaries between the Divinities and the people.
From these cultural centers, information and traditions (such as the cult of the jaguar) expanded both in the south, in South America, and in the north, in the immense prairies.
The first Mexican ceramic creations that are linked to these cultural centers (Tlatilco, 700 BC) are related to the Olmec culture. They are small statues that represent female figures with muscular and voluptuous bodies that remind us of the Mother Goddess. Other statues symbolize the jaguar-man and make us think of the totem, which is recurrent even in the culture of San Agustín (southern Colombia), of the feline-serpent.
On the Mexican coast, around Veracruz and Tabasco and east of the coast of Tehuantepec, the high Olmec culture developed, although places related to this people were also found in the Mexican lands of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla. Its pre-classical period goes from 1300 to 600 BC.
A basic characteristic of the Olmec style is the anthropomorphic representation of the jaguar, the feline man, also known as the wisdom-man. The links with the Augustinian culture of southern Colombia are so numerous that it is thought that the two civilizations had a common origin. However, the Augustinian style was developed later and this leads us to believe that the ancient inhabitants of San Agustín derived from the Olmecs.
The feline man of the Olmecs was later transformed in the cultures of the Mayans and the Aztecs, as well as in those of the Andes, into other symbolisms, such as that of the snake-feline-bird.
The Olmec sculptures were, above all, representations of human or feline-man figures in different positions.
In the archaeological zone of La Venta (on an island in the Tonalá River, in Tabasco), there are imposing megalithic structures built with materials that weigh up to 40 tons. This fact stimulates the imagination when thinking about how the Olmecs managed to transport these rocks from mines that were dozens of kilometers away without using carts pulled by animals (cattle did not exist in America before the arrival of the Europeans).
In the central square of La Venta there are several enigmatic structures: a 33-meter-high clay cone, a pyramid with terraces, altars, platforms and some colossal heads up to 2 meters high and weighing more than 30 tons, which represent individuals with evident Negroid features, with a flat nose, protuberant lips and oval eyes, very different from other statues found in many American areas that recall Amerindian features, linked to Mongoloid origin, with almond-shaped eyes and pronounced cheeks. Indeed, also in the statues of Saint Augustine, human beings are represented with a snub nose and thick lips, which suggests an African or Australoid origin.
These statues with Negroid characteristics can also be found in other archaeological sites, such as Cerro Nestepe, Tuxtla, San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes, sites that are up to 1600 kilometers from each other. In these localities, other statues of Mongoloid and even Caucasian figures were found and all this suggests that Olmec society was multiracial, although the ruling classes must have been of African origin.
In the numerous Olmec sepulchral columns, located in the different archaeological zones mentioned, other relief sculptures can be found, used as architectural ornaments that illustrated narrative and symbolic scenes.
One of the most fascinating Olmec reliefs was found on a rock wall in the Chalcatingo area. Some fantasists of ancient cultures mistakenly interpreted it as a space capsule emitting flames from the back.
On the contrary, in my opinion, this beautiful incision is nothing other than the representation of a cave that has a seated human figure in the center, surrounded by signs that can be interpreted as sounds of thunder. Furthermore, in the upper part of the sculpture there are clouds that discharge rain.
Analyzing the similarity with other petroglyphs found in the Magdalena River Canyon, near San Agustín, we can reach the conclusion that the bas-relief describes the mental action (represented by the so-called “flames” that come out of the cave) of a jaguar-man (or shaman) to cause rain.
Another magnificent Olmec sculpture represents a seated athlete with a beard (something very unusual among people of African or Asian origin). The plastic figure that suggests movement, the perfect proportion and the expression of the face, place it among the greatest works of all time.
In the Olmec culture, trade was widespread. It is thought that between the three most active towns, called today La Venta, San Lorenzo and Laguna de los Cerros, products were exchanged. The town of La Venta was rich in cocoa, rubber and salt. In Laguna de Los Cerros there were stone mines used for sculptures, while San Lorenzo, being located on a plain near the rivers, could produce corn, potatoes, tomatoes and fish. During the final period of the Olmecs, the center of Tres Zapotes was also developed.
In 1925, researchers Franz Bloom and George Lafarge discovered a stone block 2 meters wide, almost completely buried, in the Venta area. Afterwards, they found a pyramid 25 meters high and then a colossal head, the second in chronological order after the first, which was found in 1862, in Tuxtla. On the stone block there was a bas-relief representing a man along with other signs that were difficult to interpret.
In the La Venta area, another rock called Veracruz stone, or Cascajal block, was later discovered, which was studied starting in 1999. In it, whose measurements are 21x36 centimeters (with a thickness of 13 cm), there are a total 62 unidentified inscriptions and symbols.
Archaeologists Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos and Rodríguez Martínez maintain that the inscriptions could be the basis of an Olmec writing system, used to inform about the tributes that groups of subjugated tribes had to pay. Based on other materials found in the vicinity of the stone, such as jade and ceramics, it is estimated that the Cascajal block is at least 2,900 years old, dating back to the 9th century BC.
On the contrary, the writing system known as Epi-Olmec or Isthmian, related to the finds in the isthmus of Tehuantepec (Tuxtla and La Mojarra), seems to be after the Olmec period and must be linked to the origin of the Maya and Izapa writings. In addition, some archaeological discoveries such as petroglyphs and bas-reliefs suggest that the Olmecs developed a solar calendar that divided the year into 365 days.
What was the origin of the Olmecs?
The word Olmec (introduced by archaeologists in the 20th century) derives from the Nahuatl language: Olli (rubber) and Mecatl (people), or the rubber people, material used for the ball game. Probably, the Aztecs used it to generally refer to the people who lived in the region of the Tehuantepec isthmus.
If you want to give a scientific answer to the origin of the Olmecs, you must carefully consider the discoveries and findings made by the archaeologist Niede Guidon in the Brazilian archaeological zone of Sao Raimundo Nonato. Some archaeological evidence, supported by years of work and various international recognitions, leads to the conclusion that groups of archaic Sapiens arrived in America (to the estuary of the Paraiba River) directly from Africa, approximately 60 millennia ago. These data were obtained by analyzing campfires dating back to that time with the carbon 14 technique.
With the same method, it was learned that some human bone evidence found in the area dates back 12 thousand years.
According to these discoveries and also based on Morphological Anthropology studies by researchers such as Walter Neves and Danilo Bernardo (Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil), it can be stated that groups of archaic Sapiens reached the coasts of Brazil 60,000 years ago and after having lived thousands of years in the area of the Sierra de Capivara (current Brazilian state of Piauí) they spread throughout the South American continent and some of them even reached North America.
Other hypotheses describe the Olmecs as descendants of Australo-Melanesian peoples who crossed the Pacific Ocean several millennia ago, later mixing with peoples of Asian-Siberian origin. In my opinion it is possible that the descendants of the archaic Africans found the Australo-Melanesians giving rise to the ancestors of the Olmecs.
In the final phase of the Olmec culture, which dates from 600 to 100 BC, an increasing influence of the styles of Teotihuacán and the Mayans is perceived in artistic creations.
The Olmec culture ceased to exist around 100 BC, for unknown reasons.
In my opinion, in the same way as the Mayan culture, one of the causes could have been the sterility of the soils and the lack of other lands suitable for agricultural exploitation. In fact, the agricultural techniques of intercropping crops were not yet fully known and if an area became arid, or unproductive, it was very easy for periods of social instability, famines and epidemics to quickly arrive.
Like other Mexican lands, they had already been occupied by different cultures (Teotihuacán, and embryos of Mayan peoplesand Monte Albán), some Olmec survivors may have migrated south, crossing the Strait of Panama and settling in the south of present-day Colombia, giving rise to the culture we know today as San Agustín. However, the forms of writing were lost, since these survivors probably did not belong to the upper classes of the Olmecs, who were the ones who knew them. However, they kept the jaguar cult alive, as can be seen in the wonderful statues of Saint Augustine.
On the other hand, some individuals who perhaps belonged to the elite, mixed with neighboring peoples, giving rise to other cultures, such as that of Teotihuacán and the Maya, transmitting the knowledge of writing and the calendar.
YURI LEVERATTO
