by Georges Fery

What we know about the Olmecs is shadowed by what we do not, most notably their origin and their name. The riddle further deepens when we look at their art, which still puzzles researchers, among which are seventeen massive stone heads found on Mexico’s gulf coast, among many others. Most Olmec settlements were found, as recorded in the Codex Mendoza (1541) and the Florentine Codex (1585), on the Gulf Coast in today’s states of Puebla and Tabasco. According to sixteenth century Spanish chronicler Fray Bernardino de Sahagun (1585), Aztecs informants, asked about the lands and people, told him that it was called Olman in the Nahuatl language, or those who live in “the land of rubber,” for the latex extracted from a Moracea family tree (Castilla elastica), from which rubber balls for ritual games were made. By 1519, the Aztecs had incorporated the western part of Olman into their empire. Their codices list every province and the tributes paid by each to the lord of Tenochtitlán; Olman was one of the richest.

We know that the Olmecs had a writing and numbering system of dots (0 to 4) and short bars (for 5), which was later acquired by the Mayas who followed them. However, no complete texts from the Olmec culture have survived. Before the Olmecs, Paleo-Indians inhabited Olman, a fact learned from archaeological remains dated 5100-4600 BC. Radiocarbon and cross dating with sites in other parts of Mesoamerica anchor the Olmec culture to early 2700 BC. Archaeologist Ann Cyphers points to ceramic remains in the La Venta area of Veracruz, that attest to village life from 2300 to 2100 BC.

The archaeological record then shows a steady development during the years known as the Middle Formative, 1800 to 1400 BC. Monumental artworks iconography and significance point to an early date, and a powerful social class organized in hierarchical lineages. The population, besides craftsmen and traders, was dedicated to food production, farming and corvee labor. The settlement of  La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán were likely inhabited as early as 1900 BC by people who were the direct ancestors of the Olmecs. Artist and scholar Miguel Covarrubias, considered the Olmecs the “mother culture of all others in ancient Mexico.”

Olman territory covered about 3,800 square miles, including the Papaloapan, Coetzalcoalcos and Tonalá river basins, and adjacent foothills south and east of the Tuxtla mountains, the main source for basalt used to sculpt large stone figures. These mountains were the main source of basalt, used to sculpt the large stone figures, for which the Olmecs are known today. The mountain range includes the historically active volcano San Martin Tuxtla which rises above 5500 feet and whose last eruption was in 1793. Extinct volcanoes are the San Martin Pajapan (3800 ft.) and the Cerro El Vigia (2600 ft.), there are also several smaller cinder cones found throughout the range.

The Olmec heartland extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the crest of the mountain ranges of Oaxaca, to the state of Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the south. It covers the states of Veracruz and western Tabasco where most of the culture’s impressive remains are found. This core zone is a complex mosaic of large streams, tributaries, natural levies, swamps, lakes, upland ridges and islands.

The number of villages and towns increased across the land, built on natural mounds often surrounded by streams and swamps. Annual rainfall and floods were common in such a tropical environment. On large mounds were raised truncated pyramids made of packed earth and stones.

The large mounds were associated with the mountain of the beginning of time where human life was believed to have begun, atop which communities were built, surrounded by the primordial sea. Today, as in the past, seasonal changes in river levels dominate life in the region. The 800 years between  1200 and 400 BC saw the development of great sites at San Lorenzo (1200-800 BC), which stands at the beginning of the Olmec sequence, La Venta (800-400 BC), and Tres Zapotes, which developed between 400BC and 100AD, at the end of the sequence.

Few Olmec skeletons survived in the acid tropical soils of Olman, so the Olmecs’ physical appearance remains uncertain. However, the archaeological record shows Olmec stone works with realistic depictions of the morphological phenotypes of people living in tropical rainforest, such as compact and squat muscular bodies, short wide noses, epicanthic folds that give the eyes an Asian cast, a fleshy mouth with thick, at times downturned lips, a short neck, and black hair both straight and curly. These morphological particulars are not unique. They are generally found in human communities living in hot and humid climates that help people survive in taxing environments such as those of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, the tropical islands of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

Over the last years, the origin of the Olmecs has been the subject of unfounded speculations by afro centrists claiming that they came from Africa (Van Sertina, 1976, et al.). These claims are utterly refuted by the world scientific community through DNA analysis. Thorough scientific and anthropological research by world renown geneticists and scholars unquestionably establishes that remains from San Lorenzo and Loma del Zapote shared the five mtDNA haplogroups A, B, C, D, and X common to Olmec remains and today’s indigenous groups of the region, to the exclusion of any other. Before the Norse explorer Leif Erikson’s landing in North America (1018-1025), no transatlantic crossing is recorded in the north or south Atlantic oceans and nothing after that until Columbus in 1492. Nor were any foreign human, animal, or material remains found in the archaeological and anthropological records predating Olmec occupation.

So, how did the Olmecs get there? Human migrations from Eurasia over 34,000 years ago are well documented. People then walked across the thousand miles wide ice bound Bering land-bridge to the Americas, on the trails of large wild games. In southern Chile, Monte Verde.I paleolithic site, dated 16,500 BC, is a long way from the ice bridge, and underline the extent and persistence of human migrations far back in recorded history. Carlson, Erlanson, and others argue for a coastal migration by boat along the Pacific northwest 12,000 years ago. Austronesians mastered ocean travel by 7000 BC when they landed on the island of Taiwan, and later in the Philippines, in 4200 BC. During the Asian Bronze Age (3300-1300 BC), untold numbers of human groups sporadically migrated from the Eurasian landmass, and the southeast Asia tropical forests to the Americas by land, and along coastal routes. The initial settlements of most groups took place along the Pacific coasts of the Americas, many settling in tropical lowlands. Through time and the Tehuantepec mountains gap, migrants moved East to the Gulf of Mexico; among them were those the Aztecs called the Olmecs.

Through the Upper Preclassic (2400-1200 BC), Olmec lords ability to mobilize large workforces to build huge earth pyramidal mounds and monumental stone sculptures increased significantly. After 1200BC, San Lorenzo, was built on a 220-acre truncated earthwork mound, consisting of over seven million cubic yards of hard packed sediments. On its two-and-a-half-acre top, large stone buildings were erected among which was the twenty-thousand-square-foot Red Palace complex and elite residences, together with secular and ceremonial structures. Lower population segments such as lesser nobility, traders, and master craftsmen resided on the lower slopes of the pyramid, while commoners and farmers lived on scattered mounds beyond.

The four levels of Olmec physical environment revolved around land, water,  plants and animals. Olman was associated with a spiritual world that controlled both nature and people, because actual and spiritual worlds were then perceived as one and the same.

The massive structure at San Lorenzo was symbolically regarded as the primordial sacred mountain, surrounded by the mythic waters from the beginning of time. Its massive stone artworks underlined the political and religious powers of the state at this early time, who could marshal thousands of workers and specialists (Cyphers, 2018). The thought process that brought this spiritual awareness was grounded in totemism which unfolded over untold past generations and helped people to grasp and share life with an inherently hostile nature. These beliefs were at the root of the binary nature-culture dichotomy, whose mythic beings and deified ancestors of the mind were understood to live in caves’ deepest recess, homes of the Earth Monsters associated with the earth. The deity is also found in later Mesoamerican myths deemed to be related with their political and priesthood hierarchies whose legitimacy to govern was believed to be conceded by the divine (B. de la Fuente, 1996).

Olmec architecture initiated the formal patterns that were later followed by other cultures in Mesoamerica. It also followed the now conventional association with the orientation of buildings to cardinal points, and the placement of sculptures in astronomical alignment. Monumental stone sculptures were dedicated to recreating historic or mythic events in large cities and towns. The Olmecs stand out from other Mesoamerican cultures as the only people to create colossal heads without neck or body. The reason may be that the head was perceived as the seat of the five senses, knowledge, emotions, and the most obvious visual identity of a person. The record shows that most heads were carved from single blocks of volcanic boulders from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. Others, such as those of Tres Zapotes, were sculpted from basalt from the summit of Cerro El Vigia, at the western end of the Tuxtlas chain. The San Lorenzo and La Venta heads, on the other hand, were probably carved from basalt from the southeastern side of Cerro Cintepec. Seventeen massive stone heads have been found; however, more may still be buried.

The large heads sizes range from over five and half to eleven feet in height, while their weight varies from six to twenty-five tons. Head.1/Monument.1, is 25.3 tons (9.3×6.9ft), and Head.8/SL61 at San Lorenzo is 13 tons and 7.2 feet high. Ann Cyphers, who discovered the last head (SL10, 1994) at San Lorenzo remarks that they were figures from dead lords (2007). The stone blocks, from which heads were carved were roughly shaped at the quarry before being carried over inhospitable terrain to their final location. The means of transportation, at times over forty miles of land, rivers, and swamps, is still debated. Each massive stone may have required over a thousand men mobilized for up to four months, between sowing and harvesting seasons, to carry the large stones from quarry to destination, which points to the dictate of a powerful state. Wood platforms and rollers were likely used to move heavy loads over hard ground before they were loaded on large rafts over rivers and lakes. On arrival at a designated site, craftsmen worked the roughly shaped stone into a head, a throne or other monumental artwork.

Opinions vary regarding the identity and function of sculptures variously identified as ballplayers (Pina Chan, Covarrubias, 1964), gods of vegetation (Coe, 1978), or monuments of dead leaders (Westheim, 1963). Our opinion is that the heads were those of descendants of living lords vindicating their undisputable right to rule inherited from their ascendants. The importance of portrayal underlines dynastic representations and the illustrious nature that justified aristocracy (Shele and Miller, 1986; Shele and Freidel, 1990). Mexican archaeologist B. de la Fuente (2020), point out the similarities of the almond shaped eyes on large heads, implying family or marriage alliances from lords of the ruling families of San Lorenzo, La Venta and Tres Zapotes.

Another cultural marker of interest are head covers, which are of close similarity among the seventeen heads. They suggest tanned pliable leather “helmets” with the knot holding them on the back of the head. Most heads have large earplugs inserted into the earlobes. Remains of white plaster and, occasionally, a reddish substance that could be iron oxide, suggest that they were perhaps brightly decorated (Diehl, 2004:112). The “helmets” fit tightly on the skull and are adorned with symbolic elements. Among those are bird heads or feet on SL2, 5, 10 and on LV1 and 4. Feline claws on SL7, ropes on SL3, 4, 6 and 9. Cut heads and hands are on SL.7 and 8, together with other emblems or badges. As noted, the mark for large stone heads are the eyes. The two oldest heads with “biased” eyes (SL7 and SL8), are dated 1400-1200 BC. Almond shaped eyes, such as SL6, are common in the period 1200-1000 BC, while both eye shapes co-existed in later times. We do not know when the carving of colossal heads began or if the custom lasted fifty, a hundred years, or more.

It seems, as Diehl observes, that the display of colossal heads may have been short lived, lasting only fifty to a hundred years (2004). We do know, however, that the heads at San Lorenzo were buried before 900 BC, but we have no proof to support the chronology for heads from La Venta and Tres Zapotes because they were moved after discovery from their archaeological context. The archaeological record also uncovered heads carved from wood that preceded those made of stone. They were much smaller in size and were probably worshipped in families and in phratries. Since stones cannot be dated, plants, seeds and/or animal remains found in archaeological contexts were and still are used today in dating a process. Among notable vegetal remains in Olmec and later Mesoamerican cultures, is maize also called corn, which was widely cultivated before 3500 BC, and is still used as a daily staple. The plant we know as maize was domesticated from the wild Teosinte (Zea mais), a native plant of Mexico, nine thousand or more years before, and grew to the sizes we know today through time and human selection. Maize was unknown in other parts of the world and was introduced to Europe following Columbus’ travels to the New World in 1492. It did not become a major crop until the seventeenth century in France when it was used as an ornamental plant (Crosby, 1976, Bonavia, 2008). Maize reached Africa before Europe carried by Portuguese slave raiders in the early sixteenth century.

This article is Part One of Two.
Part Two will be published soon.

About the author:
Creative non-fiction writer, researcher and photographer, the author’s articles are about the history of the Americas before European arrival, their culture and beliefs. His articles are published online at travelthruhistory.com, ancient-origins.net and popular-archaeology.com, in the quarterly magazine Ancient American (ancientamerican.com), as well as in the U.K. at mexicolore.co.uk. The author is a fellow of the Institute of Maya Studies instituteofmayastudies.org Miami, FL and The Royal Geographical Society, London, U.K. rgs.org; as well as member in good standing of the Maya Exploration Center, Austin, TX mayaexploration.org, the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, MA archaeological.org, the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. americanindian.si.edu, and the NFAA – Non-Fiction Authors Association nonfictionauthrosassociation.com.
Contact: Georges Fery – 5200 Keller Springs Road, Apt. 1511, Dallas, Texas 75248, (786) 501 9692 –gfery.43@gmail.com and www.georgefery.com

Photo credits:

1. Head.1/SL1, San Lorenzo @georgefery.com
2. Head.5/SL.5, San Lorenzo @MarcoPacheco, Raíces > @arqueomex.com
3. Head.1/SL1 San Lorenzo @mexicounexplained.com
4. Bayhon Temple, Angkor Thom @trip101.com
5. Head.1/M,1 La Venta @ arblat.com
6. Head.8/M.6L, San Lorenzo @georgefery.com