ANC: Lesson - Rise of the Olmec

Rise of the Olmec

Olmec Geography

The Olmec lived in the swampy jungles of southern Mexico. This area also has volcanoes. The volcanic ash made their soil more fertile. From their fertile soil grew maize and rubber trees – in fact, so many rubber trees grew here that Olmec is not even what they called themselves. It was what another civilization named them and it translates to Rubber People.

What is Left of the Olmec?

Why don’t we just call the Olmec by their own name? We don't know it! While the soil was great for plant growth, unfortunately, it does not help modern archaeologists trying to understand this civilization. Most of the artifacts have sunk into the ground, and anything but stone and metal has rotted away. Another drawback to our understanding is that the Olmec writing is still indecipherable (like the Indus River civilization). Just like with the Indus River civilization, archaeologists have pieced together what they’ve found and compared it to future and contemporary civilizations to make conclusions.

Rise of the Olmec

The Olmec moved their capital as the empire aged. The first major Olmec city was San Lorenzo. Like the River Civilizations of Africa and Asia, San Lorenzo was near a river, which allowed the people to settle and develop agriculture. As the Olmec grew more powerful, they moved the capital to La Venta, which was also on a river and was also a good place for fishing. Finally, the third capital was at Tres Zapotes. The city outlived the Olmec civilization as it continued to be a major city under other empires. One final important city was Laguna De Los Cerros. It was at the base of nearby volcanoes and was where archeologists discovered a treasure trove of Olmec art.

Like many other early civilizations, the Olmec were polytheistic and believed in nature/animal gods. Archaeologists have found different carvings of gods at different locations, so they inferred that the Olmec offered their depictions of the gods to the home of that god as a form of sacrifice. For example, crocodile/shark god statues, along with other religious art, have been found in the rivers. Some altars have been unearthed with carvings of the jaguar god holding children, so potentially the altars were used for human sacrifice. The Olmec also invented a Long Count calendar (a 365-day calendar that spans several years), the number zero, and most famously, giant stone heads of their kings.

Olmec Contributions to Latin America

The Olmec civilization lasted from 1200-400 BCE and is considered a mother culture for Central America. This means that the Olmec culture, politics, and religion became the foundation for future civilizations in the area (you will learn more about these civilizations in Module 5). Like the Olmec, the Maya and Aztec worshiped animal-based gods, drank chocolate, grew maize, utilized an intricate multi-year calendar, practiced human sacrifice, and constructed pyramids. Luckily for historians, not only did writing survive from the Maya and Aztecs, but their ethnic groups (called Maya and Nahua) are still in Central America. Both the documents of the past and the people of today provide insight into the history of this region. The graphic below demonstrates this connection.

The Olmec Mother Culture distributed Religion (polytheism, human sacrifice, pyramids), Technology (calendar, writing), and Agriculture (chocolate and corn) to later cultures, including the Maya, Aztec, and Nahua.

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