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Olman
The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast of Mexico, Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest. It is today, as it was during the height of the Olmec civilization, a tropical lowland forest environment, crossed by meandering rivers. Most researchers consider the Olmec heartland to be the home of the Olmec culture which became widespread over Mesoamerica from 1400 Common Era, BCE until roughly 400 BCE. The area is also referred to as Olman or the Olmec Metropolitan Zone.See Diehl. The major heartland sites are: *San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán *La Venta *Tres Zapotes *Laguna de los Cerros - the least researched and least important of the major sites. Smaller sites include: *El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog. *El Azuzul, on the southern edge of the San Lorenzo area. *San Andrés (Mesoamerican site), San Andrés, near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olmec Heartland Overview 4
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures. The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the south-central Gulf Lowlands of Mexico in the Papaloapan River plain. Tres Zapotes is sometimes referred to as the third major Olmec capital (after San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán and La Venta), but the Olmec phase is only a portion of the site's history, which continued through the Epi-Olmec and Classic Veracruz cultural periods. The 2000-year existence of Tres Zapotes as a cultural center is unusual, if not unique, in Mesoamerica.Pool, p. 250. Location The site is located near the present-day village of Tres Zapotes, west of Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz at the western edge of the Los Tuxtlas Mountains on the banks of the Rio Hueyapan (a small stream). The area is a transition point between the Los Tuxtlas Mountains and the Papaloapan River delta and allowed the inhabitants to take advantage of the forested uplands as well as the swamps and streams of the flatlands. Scarcely to the east stands Cerro el Vigía, an extinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olmec Influences On Mesoamerican Cultures
The causes and degree of Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures has been a subject of debate over many decades. Although the Olmecs are considered to be perhaps the earliest Mesoamerican civilization, there are questions concerning how and how much the Olmecs influenced cultures outside the Olmec heartland. This debate is succinctly, if simplistically, framed by the title of a 2005 ''The New York Times'' article: “Mother Culture, or Only a Sister?”. Olmec heartland Nearly all researchers agree on a number of specific issues concerning the Olmec and the Olmec Heartland: *The forebears of the Olmecs were indigenous to the Olmec heartland, and developed their civilization independent of other civilizations. * The Olmec civilization arose in the Olmec heartland with the flowering of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán in the centuries before 1200 BCE. Beyond the heartland While some of the hallmarks of Olmec culture, such as colossal heads or other sculptures, earthen platforms, and mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Martín Pajapan Monument 1
San Martín Pajapan Monument 1 is a large Olmec basalt sculpture found on top of the San Martin Pajapan volcano, in the Tuxtla Mountains of the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is notable for its original location and its Olmec iconography. Description Likely carved during the Mesoamerican chronology, Early Formative period, before 1000 Common Era, BCE, the 1.4 m (5.5 ft) tall statue shows a crouching young lord. Caught in the act of raising a large ceremonial bar, his right hand is under one end and his left over the other end. This pose, nearly identical to that of the "twins" at El Azuzul, is thought to represent a ruler or shaman (or both) shown in the ritual act of raising the Mesoamerican world tree or axis mundi, an act that establishes the center of the world and connects the earthly plane with the worlds above and below. The plump face is prototype, proto-typically Olmec, with "no attempt to represent individuality". The young lord wears a huge boxy headdress, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1, also known as the Las Limas figure or the Señor de las Limas, is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals. It is the largest known greenstone sculpture. Interpretation Sculptures of headdressed figures holding inert were-jaguar babies appear often in the Olmec archaeological record, from the smallest of figurines to the huge table-top thrones such as La Venta Altar 5. What these sculptures symbolised to the Olmecs is not clear. Some researchers, focusing on the symbolic cave surrounding the figure on Altar 5 believe that these sculptures relate to myths of spiritual journeys or human origins. Others find that the limp depiction of the were-jaguar baby denotes child sacrifice. File:Las Limas Right shoulder.svg, Figure from right shoulder, generally identified as the Banded-eye God. The na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial planet, rocky planet or natural satellite, moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. For example, the bulk of the plains of volcanism on Venus, Venus, which cover ~80% of the surface, are basaltic; the lunar mare, lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its relatively low silica content (between 45% and 52%), resulting in rapidly moving lava flo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Andrés (Mesoamerican Site)
San Andrés is an Olmec archaeological site in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Located 5 km (3 miles) northeast of the Olmec ceremonial center of La Venta in the Grijalva river delta section of the Tabasco Coastal Plain, San Andrés is considered one of its elite satellite communities, with evidence of elite residences and other elite activities. Several important archaeological finds have been made at San Andrés, including the oldest evidence of the domesticated sunflower, insight into Olmec feasting rituals, didactic miniatures, and possible evidence of an Olmec writing system. Mary Pohl, funded by The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI), has been a crucial part of conducting ceramic analysis and collecting evidence of feasting vessels and early Olmec writing on greenstone plaques and ceramic roller stamps. Overview The earliest evidence of human activity at San Andrés – maize (''Zea'' species) pollen and extensive charcoal d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Azuzul
El Azuzul is an Olmec archaeological site in Veracruz, Mexico, a few kilometers south of the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán complex and generally considered contemporary with it (perhaps 1100 to 800 BCE). Named for the ranch on which it is located, El Azuzul is part of the Loma del Zapote complex. The site occupies the higher elevations north of the confluence of two ancient river courses, a part of the Coatzacoalcos River system. It is upstream of the monumental earthworks at Potrero Nuevo, which is part of the San Lorenzo complex. Monumental art El Azuzul is best known for two pairs of monumental sculptures, now on exhibit at the Museo de Antropologia, Xalapa, Mexico. These statues were found on the south side of the large pyramid/hill on the site, intact and apparently undisturbed since they were placed there in Pre-Classic times. The first pair of statues, described as "some of the greatest masterpieces of Olmec art", are nearly identical seated human figures. When discovered th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Manatí
El Manatí is an archaeological site located approximately 60 km south of Coatzacoalcos, in the municipality of Hidalgotitlán 27 kilometers southeast of Minatitlán in the Mexican state of Veracruz. El Manatí was the site of a sacred Olmec sacrificial bog from roughly 1600 BCE until 1200 BCE. It is likely that this site, discovered in 1987, was used for ritual ceremonies which included offerings of wooden sculptures, rubber balls, ceremonial axes, and other items, including the bones of infants – all found in an excellent state of preservation in the muck. Most of the wooden sculptures are busts created in the "elongated man" style and are the oldest wooden artifacts yet found in Mexico. The rubber balls are also the earliest such items yet discovered and were possibly used in the Mesoamerican ballgame. The Olmec culture The Olmec were a Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, close to the border between the modern-day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laguna De Los Cerros
Laguna de los Cerros is a little-excavated Olmec and Classical era archaeological site, located in the vicinity of Corral Nuevo, within the municipality of Acayucan, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, in the southern foothills of the Tuxtla Mountains, some south of the Laguna Catemaco. With Tres Zapotes, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, and La Venta, Laguna de los Cerros is considered one of the four major Olmec centers. Laguna de los Cerros ("lake of the hills") was so named because of the nearly 100 mounds dotting the landscape. The basic architectural pattern consists of long parallel mounds flanking large rectangular plazas. Conical mounds mark the plaza ends. Larger mounds, formerly raised residential platforms, are associated with the thinner parallel mounds. It has been confirmed that the site was not occupied during the postclassical period. Most of the mounds date from the Classical era, roughly 250 CE through 900 CE. This region, and the early Olmec people, presumably w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán or San Lorenzo is the collective name for three related archaeological sites—San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán and Potrero Nuevo—located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Along with La Venta and Tres Zapotes, it was one of the three major cities of the Olmec, and the major center of Olmec culture from 1200 BCE to 900 BCE. San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is best known today for the colossal stone heads unearthed there, the greatest of which weigh or more and are high.Diehl, p. 41. The site should not be confused with Tenochtitlan, the Aztec site in Mexico City. Administrative names were translated into Aztec/Nahuatl and spread alongside Catholic names during the European conquest, replacing any original locality names, the knowledge of which has often been lost. Description The earliest evidence for Olmec culture is found at nearby El Manatí, a sacrificial bog with artifacts dating to 1600 BCE or earlier. Sedentary agriculturalists ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wrestler (Olmec) By DeLange
The Wrestler may refer to: * ''The Wrestler'' (1974 film), an American film directed by James A. Westman * ''The Wrestler'' (2008 film), an American film directed by Darren Aronofsky * "The Wrestler" (song), a song from the 2008 film written and performed by Bruce Springsteen * ''The Wrestler'' (sculpture), an Olmec sculpture * ''The Wrestler'', a professional wrestling magazine published by Kappa Publishing Group from 1966 to 2013 * ''The Wrestlers'', English title of the 2000 Bengali film ''Uttara'' * "The Wrestler", a 2012 episode of the animated sitcom ''American Dad!'' Wrestlers may refer to: * ''Wrestlers'' (sculpture), a Roman marble sculptural group after a lost Greek original of the 3rd century BC * ''Wrestlers'', a 1957 painting by Gerard de Rose *The Wrestlers (Courbet) * Wrestlers (Eakins), ''Wrestlers'' (Eakins), an 1899 painting by Thomas Eakins * ''The Wrestlers'' (Etty), a painting of circa 1840 by William Etty * ''The Wrestlers'' (Luks), a 1905 painting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
