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Journal articles on the topic 'Olmec art'

Author: Grafiati

Published: 4 June 2021

Last updated: 29 July 2024

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1

Castañeda, Luis M. "Kubler's Sarcophagus: Cold War Archaeologies of the Olmec Periphery." ARTMargins 4, no. 1 (February 2015): 3–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/artm_a_00103.

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This article examines conflicting racial, archaeological and art historical interpretations of Olmec art produced in the United States in the early 1960s. It inscribes shifting approaches to the study of monumental Olmec art by figures like George Kubler within the contexts of violent modernization of the Olmec ‘heartland’ of Veracruz and Tabasco, the politicized display of this artistic tradition in museums and traveling exhibitions, and the unstable horizons of U.S.-Mexico diplomatic relations during that period.

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2

Blomster, Jeffrey P. "WHAT AND WHERE IS OLMEC STYLE? Regional perspectives on hollow figurines in Early Formative Mesoamerica." Ancient Mesoamerica 13, no. 2 (July 2002): 171–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536102132196.

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To understand better the significance of the Olmec style and its implications for Early Formative interregional interaction within Mesoamerica, one particular type of artifact—the hollow figurine—is examined. A definition of the Olmec style is provided based on Gulf Coast monumental art. One of several contemporaneous hollow-figurine types—“hollow babies” (Group 1)—is consistent with a Gulf Coast–based definition of the Olmec style. Fragments of Group 1 hollow figurines from across Mesoamerica are examined, revealing concentrations at a Gulf Coast center and, to a lesser extent, sites in southern Mexico. Rather than the primarily funerary function previously suggested for these objects, contextual data suggest multivalent meanings and functions. Group 2 figurines are related but different; variation appears in both the distribution of Group 2 fragments across Mesoamerica and their use. Available evidence suggests limited access to hollow figurines of both groups compared with contemporaneous solid figurines. A previous assertion that “hollow babies” were primarily produced and consumed in Central Mexico is rejected, and the significance of the differences among these hollow-figurine types is considered.

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3

Pool, Christopher A., Michael L. Loughlin, and Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos. "TRANSISTHMIAN TIES: EPI-OLMEC AND IZAPAN INTERACTION." Ancient Mesoamerica 29, no. 2 (2018): 413–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536118000123.

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AbstractIn 1943, Matthew Stirling (1943:72) once opined, “Izapa appears to be much more closely related to the earth-mound sites of southern Veracruz … than it does with sites in the Maya area.” Since then, scholars have postulated ties of varying strength between Late Formative polities on either side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Ceramic similarities have been noted between southern Chiapas and the Gulf Coast, but discussion of Late Formative transisthmian interaction has focused primarily on sculptural similarities between Izapa and sites of the lower Papaloapan basin, including Tres Zapotes, El Mesón, and Alvarado. Indeed, Michael Coe (1965b:773) suggested that the Izapan art style may have originated on the Gulf Coast rather than on the Pacific slope. In this article, we reexamine Late Formative interaction between Izapa and Epi-Olmec polities with an expanded data set based on recent iconographic studies and archaeological investigations in and around Tres Zapotes.

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4

Barberena, Elsa, Carmen Block, and Elda Mónica Guerrero. "Investig@rte: the national network of art libraries in Mexico." Art Libraries Journal 30, no. 3 (2005): 25–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0307472200014061.

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Mexican art, dating back to 2500 BC, is enormously rich and stylistically varied, the product of the country’s indigenous, ‘mestizo’ [mixed race] and Mexican cultures, which range from Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec and Mixtec, to Mayan and Aztec. During the colonial period, the influence of European art was added, brought via Spain, and at the same time Catholicism prevailed over pre-Hispanic polytheism. Mexican culture as it is known today emerged at the end of the Spanish colonial period and its wealth is amply demonstrated in the content of the writings and other documents found in Mexican libraries today.

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5

Diehl, Richard A. "Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, No. 2. Karl A. Taube." Journal of Anthropological Research 61, no. 3 (October 2005): 397–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/jar.61.3.3631332.

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6

Trejo, Silvia. "The Art of Mesoamerica. From Olmec to Aztec, de Mary Ellen Miller." Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas 15, no. 57 (August 6, 1986): 232. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/iie.18703062e.1986.57.1343.

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7

Kett, Robert J. "Monumentality as Method." Representations 130, no. 1 (2015): 119–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/rep.2015.130.5.119.

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This article examines the work of a father and son—archaeologist Robert Heizer and land artist Michael Heizer. While one is known as a methodological and technological innovator in Cold War archaeological practice, the other is a prominent figure in an art movement highly critical of modern forms of knowledge and experience. Looking past this apparent disjuncture, this article examines the unexpected continuities in both men’s methods, as evidenced in Robert Heizer’s study of the Olmec site of La Venta and Michael Heizer’s creation of massive earthworks inspired by ancient societies.

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8

Khokhriakova, Sandra А., and Аmina I. Fakhri. "ON ELEMENTS OF OLMEC ICONOGRAPHY IN ROCK ART SITES IN MEXICO AND GUATEMALA." Journal of historical philological and cultural studies 3, no. 57 (September 2017): 283–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.18503/1992-0431-2017-3-57-283-297.

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9

Tiesler, Vera. "“Olmec” Head Shapes among the Preclassic Period Maya and Cultural Meanings." Latin American Antiquity 21, no. 3 (September 2010): 290–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.7183/1045-6635.21.3.290.

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This paper analyzes the biographical and related archaeological information of 10 artificially shaped skulls from the broader Maya area, which bear resemblance to the high and narrow head morphology depicted in Olmec art. The skeletal evidence of this head form, which was accomplished by combining compression cradleboards with constricting horizontal wraps (tabular erect type in its pseudo-circular variety), is rare and predates A.D. 250 in all cases. Here I compare the cranial vaults shaped in this fashion with that of 49 other Preclassic period Maya indivisuals from different parts of the Maya world. The discussion explores the possible evolving social and religious roles of this emblematic body modification. I argue that Olmecoid head modification was a syncretic cultural adoption, since it was just one of many expressions of a deeply embedded Preclassic tradition, still practiced centuries after the demise of Olman’s societies themselves. The visible effect of the artificial pear-shaped heads most likely reflected gradual shifting ideological schemes, probably emulating early versions of the Maya Maize God, given the resemblance to Preclassic period renderings of this supernatural force.

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10

Reilly, F. Kent. "The Shaman in Transformation Pose: A Study of the Theme of Rulership in Olmec Art." Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48, no. 2 (1989): 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3774730.

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11

Andrews, B. "Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica; Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico." Ethnohistory 50, no. 4 (October 1, 2003): 733–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00141801-50-4-733.

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12

Stoliarchuk, Nataliia. "Worldview and aesthetic principles of the artistic culture of ancient Mesoamericans." Grani 23, no. 11 (November 25, 2020): 14–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.15421/172097.

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The article is devoted to the philosophic and culturological analysis of the artistic culture of ancient Mesoamerica that gives the basis for the reconstruction of spiritual and aesthetic messages as well as artistic and figurative significance and in general the unique mythological worldview of ancient Mesoamericans. The priority is given to the special meaning of the Olmec civilization which founded spiritual, aesthetic, artistic and stylistic basics of Mesoamericans’ cultural and spiritual life further evolution. The conception of reincarnation based on the spiritual boundaries with the genus ancestors has become the main idea of this evolution. Implementation of this conception was observed in the art of all the following civilizations of the region. The exploration of the genuine Olmec, Teotihuacan and Maya ethnical and art cultures gave the possibility to generalize three types of architectural constructions such as stepped pyramids, palaces, playgrounds for cult ball games which are characteristic for Mesoamerican art. Rich iconography of religious, mythological, spiritual, aesthetic and soon social and historical meaning is common for these architectural forms and gave them artistic identity and content-informational significance.Focus on those times’ knowledge of geography and astronomy was another characteristic feature of Mesoamerican culture. All the settlements were built in distinct orientation to the parts of the world or to the certain celestial bodies and constellations. In this way the symbolic horizontal axis of being was formed. The vertical axis was symbolized by the pyramids, which acted as a kind of "guide" of souls from the underworld to the earthly world, and later to the heaven. A ball-playing area, which could also be a special ritual field for sacrifices was the place where earthly life ended, and the soul passed from the dead body to the heavenly world.Thus, the world-aesthetic principles of modern Mesoamericans’ artistic culture harmoniously combine two levels of universalism: human such as dualism and conflicts of contradictions, cyclicity and recurrence, rhythmicity, order and harmony, interdependence of everything that exists, and local ethnocultural spiritual and cultural universals such as reincarnation of the soul, constant spiritual and soul connection with ancestors, synchronicity, the possibility of simultaneous presence of the soul in three different worlds-dimensions, human sacrifices, affirmation of the sublime, heroic through the ugly and mean. This unique symbiosis of ideas, knowledge and values found its powerful expression in the highly artistic art of ancient Mesoamerica, determining its identity and originality.

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Watson, Iain. "The Art of Mesoamerica, From Olmec to Aztec (3rd Edition)2002204Mary Ellen Miller. The Art of Mesoamerica, From Olmec to Aztec (3rd Edition). London : Thames and Hudson 2001. 240 pp., ISBN: ISBN 0 500 20345 8 £8.95 The World of Art series." Reference Reviews 16, no. 4 (April 2002): 32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/rr.2002.16.4.32.204.

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14

Blomster, Jeffrey P. "COMPLEXITY, INTERACTION, AND EPISTEMOLOGY: MIXTECS, ZAPOTECS, AND OLMECS IN EARLY FORMATIVE MESOAMERICA." Ancient Mesoamerica 21, no. 1 (2010): 135–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536110000039.

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AbstractInteraction between the Gulf Coast Olmecs and various regions of Early Formative Mesoamerica remains debated and poorly understood. In Oaxaca, models have been dominated by neoevolutionary epistemology; interaction between the Valley of Oaxaca and San Lorenzo has been characterized by emulation or peer polity models. Data from the Valley of Oaxaca, the Nochixtlán Valley, and the Gulf Coast demonstrate that San Lorenzo was at a different level of sociopolitical complexity than its contemporaries. Previous comparisons between Olmec-style pottery in the Gulf Coast and Valley of Oaxaca are found to be problematic, and have led to the impression that Oaxaca villagers produced more of this pottery than did the Olmecs. Neutron activation analysis demonstrates the Gulf Coast Olmecs exported ceramics to Mixtecs and Zapotecs in Oaxaca, while receiving few if any pots in return, suggesting that new models and theoretical perspectives must be applied to understanding the relationships between Oaxacan chiefdoms and the nascent Olmec state at San Lorenzo. An agency perspective explores what Mixtec, Zapotec, and Olmec groups may have taken from these interactions and relationships and acknowledges both local and Gulf Coast understandings of “Olmec.” Such relationships may be characterized more by acquisition between regions, with San Lorenzo as a superordinate center.

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15

Jeff Kowalski. "Visualizing Culture, Society, and Ideology in Mesoamerica: Books on Olmec, Izapan, Classic Maya, and Teotihuacán Archaeology and Art." Latin American Research Review 44, no. 2 (2010): 193–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lar.0.0117.

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16

Kabylinskii, Boris Vasilievich. "Totem symbols in decorative traditions of the peoples of pre-Columbian America: conflict or harmony?" Культура и искусство, no. 7 (July 2020): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.7256/2454-0625.2020.7.32827.

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The object of this research is a totem symbol in decorative tradition of the peoples of pre-Columbian America. The subject of this research is the images of jaguar in the art of the Aztecs of Mesoamerica. The images of a human and jaguar are captured on the metal, stone and clay artifacts of pre-Columbian civilizations that are available to the public in Mexico City National Museum of Anthropology, Peruvian Museum of the Nation in Lima, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D. C. The research methodology is based on compilation of the results of fundamental research of the leading scholars of North American School of Anthropology. The article conduct a general systematization and brief analytics of scientific records on the specificity of Mesoamerican decorative tradition of totem symbols throughout an extensive period of time: 1500 BC – 400 AD (Olmec Civilization), III century BC – VII century AD (Teotihuacan Civilization), 900 BC – 200 AD (Chavín Civilization), 750 BC – 100 AD (Paracas Civilization), 2300 – 1200 BC (Kotosh Civilization), 1250 – 1470 AD (Chimú Civilization). The presented materials substantiate the thesis that jaguar as a totem symbol carried out the functions of unification and identification of ethnoses of Mesoamerica, reflecting relevant sociocultural trends at various stages of anthropogenesis. The novelty of this work consists in scientific systematization of the facts that the nuances of fusion of the images of human and jaguar in art objects of Aztec culture reflect a harmonious or turbulent frame of mind in pre-Columbian era.

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17

Melgar Tísoc, Emiliano R., and Reyna B. Solís Ciriaco. "The Manufacturing Techniques of the Teotihuacan Style Masks from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan." MRS Proceedings 1618 (2014): 109–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.460.

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ABSTRACTAt the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, the archaeologists found hundreds of stone masks considered foreign pieces obtained by commerce, tribute, and pillage. Because of that, they were classified in the main Mesoamerican styles, like the Olmec, Mezcala, Teotihuacan, Mayan, Mixtec and Aztec art. Among them are seven Teotihuacan Style masks found in five offerings. Its presence was explained by other researchers as relics looted by Aztec people from the Teotihuacan site, because the Aztec priests and rulers employed them as sources of power, prestige and mythical links between the City of the Gods and Tenochtitlan. But, are these stone masks from Tenochtitlan really Teotihuacan items? How can we identify which of them came from Teotihuacan and could be relics and which of them not? To solve this problem, we analyze its manufacturing techniques and compare them with lapidary objects from different areas of Teotihuacan, employing experimental archaeology, Optic Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. As results, we identify two technological patterns: five masks share the tools and techniques of Teotihuacan manufactures but two other masks contrast with them. Interestingly, its technology match with the Tenochcan productions, so, both pieces could be recreations crafted by Aztec artisans during the Postclassic times.

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18

Cyphers, Ann. "Tropical Frontiers - Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica. John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, editors. Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 58. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2000.342 pp., figures, bibliographies. $50.00 (cloth)." Latin American Antiquity 12, no. 1 (March 2001): 107–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/971764.

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19

Carmichael, Elizabeth. "The Art of Mesoamerica from Olmec to Aztec. By Mary Ellen Miller. (World of Art.) 21 × 15 cm. Pp. 240, 186 ills. (inc. 20 col.). London: Thames and Hudson, 1986. ISBN 0-500-20203-6. £4.50 (p/b)." Antiquaries Journal 67, no. 2 (September 1987): 404–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003581500025658.

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20

Pool, Christopher A., Charles L. F. Knight, and Michael D. Glascock. "FORMATIVE OBSIDIAN PROCUREMENT AT TRES ZAPOTES, VERACRUZ, MEXICO: IMPLICATIONS FOR OLMEC AND EPI-OLMEC POLITICAL ECONOMY." Ancient Mesoamerica 25, no. 1 (2014): 271–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536114000169.

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AbstractWe report the results of chemical sourcing of obsidian artifacts from Tres Zapotes using X-ray fluorescence analysis. This is the first obsidian sourcing study for this major Olmec and Epi-Olmec center in which samples are drawn from secure archaeological proveniences specifically assigned to Early, Middle, Late Formative, and Protoclassic periods. We employed a stratified random sampling strategy to select 180 obsidian artifacts from excavated assemblages, supplementing the random sample with another 24 specimens drawn from rare visual categories. Consequently, we are able to characterize changes in the relative importance of different obsidian sources in the political economy of Tres Zapotes across the critical transition from Olmec to Epi-Olmec society with greater confidence than has been possible for the Gulf lowlands while extending our observations to the full sample of 5,713 visually characterized obsidian artifacts—2,695 of which come from the well-dated Formative contexts examined in this article. Our study confirms the absence of obsidian from Otumba and from Guatemalan sources in the excavated Olmec assemblage in favor of sources from eastern Puebla and Veracruz, supporting a model of overlapping autonomous networks for obsidian procurement at Gulf Olmec sites. Presence of the Guatemalan San Martín Jilotepeque source in Epi-Olmec contexts may relate to the reestablishment of trans-Isthmian contacts, while increasing prevalence of Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian from eastern Puebla marks the beginning of a long-term trend. Although more even representation of obsidian sources in Epi-Olmec contexts is consistent with the hypothesized transition from an exclusionary Olmec political economy toward a more “corporate” system associated with power sharing among factional leaders at Tres Zapotes, neither Olmec nor Epi-Olmec elites monopolized a particular obsidian source or technology.

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21

Wendt, Carl J. "A SAN LORENZO PHASE HOUSEHOLD ASSEMBLAGE FROM EL REMOLINO, VERACRUZ." Ancient Mesoamerica 21, no. 1 (2010): 107–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536110000088.

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AbstractWhile scholars actively search for material and symbolic indications of Olmec influence outside the Gulf Coast, few have taken a close look at the variation and intricacies of Early Formative period material culture within the Gulf Coast region. The increasing body of data on houses in the Olmec heartland is beginning to allow comparisons and new kinds of analyses not previously possible in Olmec studies. Excavated materials from San Lorenzo phase (1200–900b.c., radiocarbon years; 1400–1000b.c.) households at El Remolino in the San Lorenzo region are analyzed in a preliminary attempt to evaluate the particulars of a San Lorenzo Olmec domestic assemblage in order to provide a baseline for future research. I compare quantities of different artifact classes, vessel forms, vessel orifice diameters, and pottery decoration to arrive at an understanding of a modest Olmec household inventory. Through this analysis, I argue that several of the San Lorenzo horizon markers cited as evidence of Olmec influence or migration elsewhere in Mesoamerica are quite rare in the Olmec heartland itself. Both Calzadas Carved and Limón Carved-Incised pottery decorations1occur only in minute quantities (<1%) in the Remolino (and San Lorenzo) assemblage, and hollow white-ware figurines are entirely absent at this nonelite context. Except for its location 5 km from San Lorenzo, El Remolino would not qualify as an Olmec site based on the lack of artifact markers emphasized by archaeologists working outside of the Gulf Coast. I argue that we need a better idea of the range of Gulf Coast Olmec variation before we delve too far into discussions of Gulf Coast influence.

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22

Grove, David C. "La Isla, Veracruz, 1991." Ancient Mesoamerica 5, no. 2 (1994): 223–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536100001188.

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AbstractThis article reports on 1991 archaeological investigations at La Isla, a small site near the Olmec center of Laguna de los Cerros, Veracruz. Excavations of Mound D, the mound's possible association with three Olmec monument fragments found in the 1970s, and problems of site stratigraphy are discussed. The article concludes with comments on the western sector of the Olmec area. The overall distribution of major Olmec centers is then considered, and a “zonal complementarity” model associating the location of those centers with distinctive natural resources is introduced.

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Cheetham, David. "CULTURAL IMPERATIVES IN CLAY: EARLY OLMEC CARVED POTTERY FROM SAN LORENZO AND CANTÓN CORRALITO." Ancient Mesoamerica 21, no. 1 (2010): 165–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536110000040.

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AbstractPortable “Olmec-style” objects appeared in several regions of Mesoamerica near the end of the second millennium b.c., most frequently in the form of ceramic figurines and carved-incised pottery vessels. The origins of this early Olmec style and significance of its distribution are vigorously debated, with the role of the Gulf Coast Olmec archaeological culture and its largest center, San Lorenzo, especially controversial with respect to both issues. While recent chemical compositional analyses show that Olmec-style pots were exported from the Gulf Coast to several other regions of Mesoamerica, in each place beyond the Gulf Coast they are vastly outnumbered by locally-made versions that may or may not be faithful to Gulf Olmec stylistic canons based on vessel forms, technical style of manufacture, and design criteria. The extent of stylistic conformity between pots made in the Gulf Coast and distant regions has direct implications in terms of the geographic origin, apprenticeship, and cultural membership (innate ethnicity) of the potters who made the vessels. I consider these issues by comparing the designs and forms of excised (Calzadas Carved) pottery made at San Lorenzo and Cantón Corralito, a possible settlement enclave of Gulf Olmec peoples located in the Mazatan zone of Pacific Coastal Chiapas some 450 km from San Lorenzo.

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Ramírez-Núñez, Carolina, Ann Cyphers, Jean-François Parrot, and Bernhard Höfle. "MULTIDIRECTIONAL INTERPOLATION OF LIDAR DATA FROM SOUTHERN VERACRUZ, MEXICO: IMPLICATIONS FOR EARLY OLMEC SUBSISTENCE." Ancient Mesoamerica 30, no. 3 (2019): 385–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536118000263.

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AbstractFrom their beginnings some 4,000 years ago to their decadence around 400 b.c., the Olmec people achieved a high level of sociopolitical complexity and dominated their native geographic territory, the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico. The first Olmec capital of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, was the only site in Mesoamerica that produced imposing monumental stone sculpture and architecture between 1800 and 1000 b.c. These characteristics reflect the capabilities of its centralized political system headed by hereditary rulers with divine legitimation. Key issues regarding the development of San Lorenzo Olmec culture center on subsistence and environment. The present study focuses on a portion of the landscape located immediately north of the first Olmec capital of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, that has been proposed as a key resource area during the development of the first civilization in Mesoamerica. We calculate the surface, volume, and water depth of this area based on archaeological data and a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived from an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey. The expected minimum and maximum area, local minimum altitude, and the DTM of 5-m spatial resolution provide a basis for inferences regarding the characteristics of the wetland ecosystem during Olmec times. The goal is to quantify and qualify the potential of this resource zone relying on LiDAR topography. Our models validate the observations in the field and, when combined with algorithms, they confirm the archaeological conclusions. We affirm that the northern plain in Olmec times was deeper than it is today and would have been a source of abundant aquatic resources for the primary subsistence of the early Olmec society.

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Pool, Christopher A. "ASKING MORE AND BETTER QUESTIONS: OLMEC ARCHAEOLOGY FOR THE NEXT KATUN." Ancient Mesoamerica 20, no. 2 (2009): 241–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536109990149.

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AbstractThe two decades since the publication of Regional Perspectives on the Olmec have seen a great expansion of basic archaeological research in the “Olmec heartland” region of Mexico's southern Gulf lowlands as well as important new work on Formative period interregional interaction and its effects on local economies and polities. Olmec research, however, has not achieved as prominent a place as it merits in comparative research on the evolution of social complexity. In this essay I review this work and make some suggestions for future research directions.

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Nielsen, Jesper, Christophe Helmke, and Maja Balle. "Skrevet på papir og skind. Mesoamerikanske manuskripter fra præcolumbiansk tid til kolonitiden." Fund og Forskning i Det Kongelige Biblioteks Samlinger 55 (March 3, 2016): 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/fof.v55i0.118910.

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Jesper Nielsen, Christophe Helmke & Maja Balle: Written on Paper and Hides: Mesoamerican Manuscripts from Pre-Columbian to Colonial Times A series of important Pre-Columbian civilizations thrived in the culture area known as Mesoamerica. Among these were the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec and Aztec, literate cultures of different language families. Mesoamerica is one of the very few hearths of literacy in the ancient world, since it is here that writing was invented in the New World, independently of the development of writing in the Old World, as seen in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China. Whereas the earliest ancestral writing system of Mesoamerica remains elusive it eventually gave rise to as many as ten different writing systems, of which only that of the Maya and the Aztec have succumbed to phonetic decipherment. This contribution provides a thorough overview of Mesoamerican literature, as represented in the manuscripts that subsist to the present day. As such we do not review the written records inscribed on stone monuments or portable objects and items of regalia, nor the texts painted on murals. Instead, focus is placed on the manuscripts that represent Pre-Columbian literary traditions, both in terms of format, as well as the coupling of images and texts, written in one or another Native American writing system. All of these manuscripts were produced by Native American scribes in the decades preceding and following the Spanish Conquest, although some manuscripts exhibit some degree of European influence and the beginnings of a hybrid Indo-Christian style. We present a background on books and scribes, as well as Mesoamerican writing systems as these are understood today. From there we review the three salient areas of manuscript production in Mesoamerica, namely, the Aztec tradition of central Mexico, the intervening tradition spanning from Puebla to Oaxaca, describing in detail the Mixtec mapa from the town of Xochitepec which is part of the Danish National Museum’s collection, and finally, the Maya tradition in the east. To close we take a look at the continued production and utilisation of Mesoamerican manuscripts, not only for the illicit art market, but also among traditional communities, where manuscripts are still integrated into ritual life and where traces of the Pre-Columbian scribal arts subsist to this day.

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Joyce, Rosemary A., and John S. Henderson. "BEING “OLMEC” IN EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD HONDURAS." Ancient Mesoamerica 21, no. 1 (2010): 187–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536110000052.

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AbstractPractices and features that many researchers have identified as “Olmec,” even when found outside of the Gulf Coast of Mexico, supposed by some to be the heartland of an Olmec culture, are often a minority within local assemblages with vast differences in style and form. This is the case in Honduras, where objects identified as “Olmec” were clearly locally made. Thus they cannot be explained simply in terms of the import to Honduras of “Olmec” objects made elsewhere. This paper seeks to address the question, “what did it mean to the inhabitants of Formative period Mesoamerican villages to make and use objects whose stylistic features made them stand out as different from others in their own communities?” Drawing on data from original fieldwork at multiple sites in Honduras and reanalysis of museum collections, this paper proposes a model for understanding this phenomenon rooted in social theories of materiality, the phenomenological experience of personhood, and the creation of identity through entanglement with things.

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Borstein, Joshua A. "EPICLASSIC POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHERN VERACRUZ, MEXICO: Segmentary versus centralized integration." Ancient Mesoamerica 16, no. 1 (January 2005): 11–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095653610505008x.

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Archaeological investigations in southern Veracruz, Mexico, have traditionally focused on the impressive achievements of the Early Formative Olmec, one of Mesoamerica's earliest complex societies. Fewer studies have investigated post-Olmec cultural developments. Research in parts of the middle San Juan and lower Coatzacoalcos drainages of southern Veracruz provides new data on the Epiclassic period, when population levels exceeded the Olmec period. This paper examines settlement patterns and architectural complexes to interpret the political organization extant during the Epiclassic. Two largely polarized political models are examined, one segmentary and the other centralized. Perhaps not surprisingly, the data are consistent with aspects of both models. Finally, data are compared to other nearby regions to place the study area in a larger regional context. Traditionally conceived as a monolithic region, the southern Gulf lowlands are better characterized by cultural variation, population discontinuities, and intra- and interregional interaction.

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Arnold, Philip J., and Billie J. A. Follensbee. "EARLY FORMATIVE ANTHROPOMORPHIC FIGURINES FROM LA JOYA, SOUTHERN VERACRUZ, MEXICO." Ancient Mesoamerica 26, no. 1 (2015): 13–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536115000012.

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AbstractThis paper describes Early Formative (3250–2700b.p., uncalibrated) anthropomorphic figurines from the site of La Joya, located in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Although recovered within the region traditionally identified as the “Olmec Heartland,” the La Joya figurine collection diverges in some fundamental ways from other published Early Formative Gulf Olmec collections. While the torsos from La Joya generally reflect the poses, postures, and costumes noted at contemporaneous sites, the La Joya figurine heads display characteristics that rarely conform to the traditional “San Lorenzo” stylistic canons. Rather, the overwhelming majority of figurine heads are similar to the Trapiche figurines from north-central Veracruz. These differences suggest that myriad intra- and interregional connections characterized Early Formative occupation along the southern Gulf lowlands. This variation also raises concerns regarding the suitability of the San Lorenzo material as necessarily “representative” of Early Formative Gulf Olmec lifeways.

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Jaime-Riverón, Olaf. "OLMEC GREENSTONE IN EARLY FORMATIVE MESOAMERICA: EXCHANGE AND PROCESS OF PRODUCTION." Ancient Mesoamerica 21, no. 1 (2010): 123–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095653611000009x.

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AbstractThe earliest uses of Olmec greenstone (jadeite, greenstone, schist, green quartz, and others) accelerated the interregional exchange of technology and raw materials. These relationships provoked asymmetry between polities of different parts of Mesoamerica and within Olmec sites. There were stronger relationships between the Gulf Coast and Chiapas. In general terms, greenstone artifacts display an evolutionary process similar to ceramics and basalt sculpture in the emergence of complex society during terminal Early Formative times. This paper focuses on the exchange of technological choices and asymmetry between Gulf Coast of Mexico and the rest of Mesoamerica.

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Seredin, Artur. "THE MACROSIGNIFIED OF FORMATIVE MESOAMERICA: A SEMIOTIC APPROACH TO THE “OLMEC” STYLE." Ancient Mesoamerica 32, no. 2 (2021): 204–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536120000243.

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AbstractThis article applies the theory of archaeological semiotics to the study of the “Olmec” style. A semiotic approach differs from an iconographic study because it provides the possibility for complex analysis of all significant traits of material archeological objects without distinction between stylistic and iconographic traits. In this context, the semiotic analysis of the Olmec style as a sign system shows that its particular signs, which can be defined as stylistic traits because of the lack of specific iconographic meanings, simultaneously participated in the creation and transformation of cultural meanings. This phenomenon reflected the “macrosignified” of Formative Mesoamerican cultures, associated with a structure that linked together various meanings throughout the culture.

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Gillespie, Susan D. "Llano del Jicaro." Ancient Mesoamerica 5, no. 2 (1994): 231–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095653610000119x.

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AbstractLlano del Jícaro, Veracruz, is a workshop site where Olmec monuments were carved from exposed boulders of Cerro Cintepec basalt. The site, which lies in the hinterland of the major Olmec center of Laguna de los Cerros, was discovered in 1960 by Alfonso Medellín Zenil, who moved one of its unfinished monuments to the Museum of Anthropology in Jalapa. In 1991 more intensive archaeological investigations at Llano del Jícaro located nine additional boulders, including a tabletop altar, with evidence of carving. Excavations around four of these monoliths uncovered debitage and hammerstones from the manufacturing process. Survey also located the remains of the probable residences of the stonecarvers.

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Yurdakök, Murat. "Neonatal medicine in ancient art." Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 52, no. 2 (April 25, 2010): 218–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.24953/turkjped.2010.1896.

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There are a limited number of artistic objects from ancient times with particular importance in neonatal medicine. The best examples are figurines from ancient Egypt of Isis nursing Horus, showing the importance of breastfeeding. The earliest images of the human fetus were made by the Olmecs in Mexico around 1200- 400 BCE. One of the earliest representations of congenital anomalies is a figurine of diencephalic twins thought to be the goddess of Anatolia, dated to around 6500 BCE. In addition to these figurines, three sets of twins in the ancient world have medical importance, and Renaissance artists often used them as a subject for their paintings: "direct suckling animals" (Romulus and Remus), "heteropaternal superfecundation" (mother: Leda, fathers: Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, and Leda's husband, Tyndareus), and "twin-to-twin transfusion" in monozygotic twins (Jacob and Esau).

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CHARLTON, THOMAS H. "The Olmecs: America's First Civilization:The Olmecs: America's First Civilization." American Anthropologist 108, no. 3 (September 2006): 581. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aa.2006.108.3.581.

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Dudley, Ian. "Olmec Colossal Heads in the Paintings of Aubrey Williams." Art History 43, no. 4 (July 14, 2020): 828–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.12527.

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Scarborough, Vernon. "Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. Christopher A. Pool." Journal of Anthropological Research 64, no. 1 (April 2008): 155–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/jar.64.1.20371216.

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Englehardt, Joshua D., Mirta A. Insaurralde Caballero, Emiliano R. Melgar Tísoc, Luis R. Velázquez Maldonado, Viridiana Guzmán Torres, Henri Noel Bernard, and Michael D. Carrasco. "DIGITAL IMAGING AND ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE CASCAJAL BLOCK: ESTABLISHING CONTEXT AND AUTHENTICITY FOR THE EARLIEST KNOWN OLMEC TEXT." Ancient Mesoamerica 31, no. 2 (November 27, 2019): 189–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536119000257.

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AbstractAlthough the Cascajal Block (CB), an incised greenstone slab from southeastern Veracruz, Mexico, arguably contains the earliest written text in the New World, debate remains regarding the object's authenticity, dating, and cultural affiliation. To address these issues, this article details recent analyses of the CB via polynomial texture mapping (PTM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PTM revealed new details that have resulted in a new epigraphic drawing of the block's incised text and allowed for improved identification of several constituent signs. Spectrometric analysis confirmed that the chemical composition of the CB matrix is consistent with serpentine and identified a uniform patina on its surface, which provided additional contextual data. SEM micrographs of polymer replica molds taken from the incised text evidence manufacturing traces that correspond to lapidary techniques observed on other Formative-period Olmec objects of secure provenience. Results assist in clarifying the archaeological contexts of the object and confirm that in terms of symbols, material, and manufacture the CB conforms to other Formative-period Olmec objects, supporting the object's authenticity, dating, and cultural affiliation.

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Mountjoy, Joseph, Pierre Agrinier, Andrew McDonald, and Joseph W. Hopkins. "The Early Olmec Horizon at Mirador, Chiapas, Mexico." American Antiquity 52, no. 1 (January 1987): 210. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281096.

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Hammond, Norman, and Karl Taube. "The Aberdeen Celt: an early twentieth-century Olmec find." Antiquity 93, no. 368 (April 2019): 488–501. http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.183.

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Wilk, Richard. "Miss Universe, the Olmec and the Valley of Oaxaca." Journal of Social Archaeology 4, no. 1 (February 2004): 81–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469605304039851.

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Grove, David C. "Olmec archaeology: A half century of research and its accomplishments." Journal of World Prehistory 11, no. 1 (March 1997): 51–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02221201.

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Taube, Karl. "The Olmec Maize God: The Face of Corn in Formative Mesoamerica." Res: Anthropology and aesthetics 29-30 (March 1996): 39–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/resvn1ms20166943.

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Źrałka, Jarosław, Wiesław Koszkul, Simon Martin, and Bernard Hermes. "In the path of the Maize God: a royal tomb at Nakum, Petén, Guatemala." Antiquity 85, no. 329 (August 2011): 890–908. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00068381.

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The authors describe the excavation and interpretation of an intact seventh-century high status burial at the Maya site of Nakum. The dead person wore an incised pectoral with an eventful biography, having started out as an Olmec heirloom 1000 years before. No less impressive was the series of votive rituals found to have been enacted at the tomb for another 100 years or more. The beautiful objects, their architectural setting and the long story they recount, offer a heart-breaking indictment of the multiple losses due to looting.

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Rice, Don S. ": Regional Perspectives on the Olmec . Robert J. Sharer, David C. Grove." American Anthropologist 93, no. 2 (June 1991): 507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aa.1991.93.2.02a00730.

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Wendt, Carl J. "Farming, Hunting, and Fishing in the Olmec World. Amber M. VanDerwarker." Journal of Anthropological Research 63, no. 2 (July 2007): 289–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/jar.63.2.20371166.

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Arieta Baizabal, Virginia, and Ann Cyphers. "DENSIDAD POBLACIONAL EN LA CAPITAL OLMECA DE SAN LORENZO, VERACRUZ." Ancient Mesoamerica 28, no. 1 (2017): 61–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536116000195.

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RESUMENEn los últimos años los análisis de densidad poblacional y distribución espacial conforman temas medulares sobre el desarrollo de las sociedades. Una manera de abordar estos temas en la capital olmeca de San Lorenzo, Veracruz, gira en torno al análisis y la interpretación de las pruebas de barreno realizadas de manera sistemática e intensiva. El presente estudio permitió reconstruir el número y tamaño de las estructuras arquitectónicas ubicadas en los diversos sectores del sitio y, a partir de éstos, estimar el número total de pobladores en el asentamiento con el fin de llegar a inferir tendencias en el desarrollo de la primera capital olmeca.

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Neff, Hector. "EVOLUTION OF THE MESOAMERICAN MOTHER CULTURE." Ancient Mesoamerica 22, no. 1 (2011): 107–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536111000150.

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AbstractAn ongoing debate about Early Formative cultural elaboration in Mesoamerica is based largely on claims about where innovations originated and when different regions influenced each other. One view is that Gulf lowland populations called “Olmec” by archaeologists made a number of key innovations and that their influence on contemporary societies stimulated the rise of Mesoamerican civilization. Another view is that multiple regions participated equally and all made innovations that became the legacy of later Mesoamerican societies. Additional empirical work will help resolve some of the issues raised by this debate, as Cheetham and Blomster (2010) have recently suggested in this journal. Explicit theory can also help move the discussion forward.

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Strauss, Stephanie M. "NEGOTIATING NARRATIVE DOMAINS: IZAPA'S PLACE IN THE DISCOURSE ON EARLY HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING." Ancient Mesoamerica 29, no. 2 (2018): 347–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095653611800024x.

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AbstractThis paper aims to situate the Late Formative urban center of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico into the greater discussion of early Mesoamerican writing systems. The elites of Izapa produced elaborate carved stone monuments in an era that bore witness to the fluorescence of three great hieroglyphic programs—the Zapotec, the Epi-Olmec, and the Maya—and, yet, only a handful of glyphs appear in Izapa's monumental corpus. In a discussion that includes Izapan iconoglyphs, possible nominal phrases, and the calendrical inscriptions on Izapa Stela 27, Stela 9, and Miscellaneous Monument 60, this study juxtaposes Izapan visual culture with representational systems to the east and west, and ultimately explores the narrative domains of greatest salience to Izapa's elite: image and cyclical time.

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Solano Rojas, Aldo Fabián. "Presencia olmeca en Chapultepec: la fuente Mito del Agua." Bitácora Arquitectura, no. 48 (August 31, 2022): 46–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/fa.14058901p.2022.48.81909.

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La fuente Mito del Agua, ubicada en la Segunda Sección del Bosque de Chapultepec y terminada en 1964, es uno de los objetos más peculiares del espacio público de la Ciudad de México. En ella podemos ver la relación entre arqueología y arquitectura, que resultó en la creación de nuevos objetos arqueológicos gracias a la vigencia de la integración plástica. A pesar de su popularidad, poco se conocía de sus artífices y de las fuentes históricas que definieron su programa iconográfico. Ahora podemos afirmar que este ejemplo de escultura pública respondió a las inquietudes de sus autores por difundir los recientes hallazgos de la cultura olmeca utilizando el espacio público para educar a la población.

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Blomster, Jeffrey P. "Context, Cult, and Early Formative Period Public Ritual in the Mixteca Alta." Ancient Mesoamerica 9, no. 2 (1998): 309–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536100002017.

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AbstractFrom the Early and Middle Formative periods, hollow ceramic-baby figurines in the Olmec style—representing a suite of shared symbols and iconography—appear at sites throughout Mesoamerica. Hollow babies are usually reported without provenience, which has prevented a context-based analysis. The recent discovery of a hollow-baby figurine in a bell-shaped pit in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca provides the opportunity to examine the role and purported distribution of these objects across Mesoamenca. Based on consideration of the Etlatongo hollow-baby image, a semiotic analysis of contemporaneous solid figurines from Oaxaca, and the volume and nature of its bell-shaped-pit context, hollow babies are interpreted as ritual paraphernalia used in display and public ceremonies that reflect the emerging social ranking of this period. Moving beyond a socioeconomic interpretation, the interregional relationships expressed through hollow-baby figurines are suggested to evince participation in a regional cult.

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