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The Olmec civilization flourished on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between 1200 and 400 BC, although the first traces of their culture date from 3000 BC. Although the knowledge that we have of the Olmec culture is limited, numerous expressions of their art have been preserved. The colossal sculpture in large pieces carved in stone, as well as small pieces in jade, green stone and obsidian, and cave paintings, are some of the works of art that have been recovered. Olmec art depictions mostly have religious or political significance; the pieces show gods or rulers.
The importance of the Olmec culture
The Olmec culture was the first great Mesoamerican civilization, having developed in what are now the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico.
The first large settlement was the city of San Lorenzo; Founded around the year 1800 BC, it reached its maximum development between 1400 and 1000 BC. C., with a stable population of about 10,000 inhabitants and an area of 700 hectares. In its time it was the largest Mesoamerican city. The importance of San Lorenzo rapidly declined in favor of the city of La Venta, the second great Olmec settlement, which was abandoned around 400 BC.
The Olmecs had a strong influence on later Mesoamerican cultures, particularly in their art. The wall paintings found in San Bartolo, Guatemala, which were created around 100 BC and are still the oldest in Mayan culture, show an aesthetic continuity between late Olmec and Mayan iconography. The themes of these paintings are mythical and religious; in them appear the god of corn and the twins of the Popol Vuh, with innumerable features of the Olmec world.
Although there are not many vestiges that remain of the Olmec culture, numerous expressions of their culture have been recovered. Its artistic manifestations particularly allow to reconstruct the fundamental aspects of the civilization that laid the foundations of Mesoamerica.
rock art
The paintings found in the caves of Juxtlahuaca and Oxtotitlán in the valleys of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the state of Guerrero, in Mexico, are the best-known representations of Olmec rock art.
The Olmecs associated the caves with the dragon god or Monster of the Earth and it is likely that the caves were sacred places. The cosmic monster was a fundamental mythological figure for Olmec cosmogony. He was an ancient being who floated in the primeval waters and was considered the source of the universe. His jaws represented the entrance to the watery underworld, which in turn was represented as the entrance to a cave.
The Juxtlahuaca cave
The paintings in the Juxtlahuaca cave were found in 1966 deep in the mountains, a kilometer and a half from the cave entrance, displayed in wide chambers connected by narrow corridors.
Three large murals were found in independent chambers and several small, badly deteriorated paintings.
- The first chamber was called the Ritual Hall, where a scene composed of two figures was painted; one standing leaning towards another, disproportionately smaller, who is seated and raises her face to look at the first (see figure below).
- The second chamber, the Serpent Hall, is connected to the Ritual Hall through the Gallery of Drawings, which contains drawings with various symbols. In the Hall of the Serpent, a large snake with a red body and a black head was represented.
- In the third chamber there is a pictorial representation of an animal that could be a jaguar, a figure very present in Olmec mythology.
Oxtotitlan cavern
In 1968 the cave paintings were found in the Oxtotitlán cave, near the town of Acatlán. The anthropologist David C. Grove studied them and established that these paintings, like those in the Juxtlahuaca cave, could be dated between 900 and 700 BC.
The paintings from the Oxtotitlán cave were classified into three groups, according to their location in the caves: North Grotto, South Grotto and Central Group. One of the figures in the Central Group represents a human figure superimposed on a fantastical figure that Grove identified as an image of the Olmec Jaguar Monster.
the altars
Among the pieces of Olmec sculpture, the altars stand out, large blocks carved in basalt in the shape of a parallelepiped. There are several pieces that are preserved, both in San Lorenzo and in La Venta.
Complex scenes with religious images were carved on its sides and various representations appear on the front. For example, the cavity of altar 4 of La Venta (see figure below) symbolizes a door to the underworld or the cave of origins together with the image of the ancestor of a ruler; at the top is a stylized image of the Earth Monster.
It is believed that these altars were thrones used by rulers or priests. In a cave painting you can see an Olmec ruler sitting on one of these altars.
the colossal heads
The most prominent pieces of Olmec sculpture are the colossal heads. These figures, which were up to 3 meters high and weighed close to 10 tons, were carved from basalt blocks and transported great distances.
17 pieces of colossal heads have been found, ten of which are in San Lorenzo. These sculptures depict male heads with slant eyes, thick lips, and flat noses, with a helmet or headdress on top, believed to be warriors or rulers.
Statues, statuettes and stelae
The surviving Olmec sculptural art includes numerous pieces of statues, statuettes, stelae, masks, and a great diversity of small pieces carved in various materials or molded in terracotta.
Of the statues found in archaeological sites, a set of three pieces discovered at the El Azuzul site, near San Lorenzo, stands out. It is known as the Azuzul twins, and they are two identical human figures located in front of a jaguar. It has been interpreted as representing a Mesoamerican myth described in the Popol Vuh.
Another example of Olmec sculpture is the one shown in the following image; the Lord of Las Limas. Carved out of serpentine, it is a sculpture 55 centimeters high and 42 centimeters wide that represents a young man holding a jaguar child. The statue has religious figures engraved on its face, shoulders and legs.
The masks were also a form of expression of Olmec art; sculpted in jade, masks the size of a face and smaller ones used as ornaments were found. Some masks depict human faces while others combine human features with animal features, such as the were-jaguar.
The statuettes are another artistic manifestation of which numerous pieces have been found. The terracotta figures are the ones that have been found in the greatest quantity, but little statuettes carved in jade, serpentine, basalt and other materials have also been found. One of the best-known figurine forms are hollow terracotta figures depicting chubby, baby-faced bodies.
the stelae
Olmec stelae are more recent art forms than colossal sculpture, depicting rulers, deities, and historical events.
An example is the representation of the feathered serpent, a divinity present in several Mesoamerican cultures but whose oldest representations correspond to the Olmec civilization. His image in monument 19 of the La Venta archaeological site, shown in the following figure, represents a character dressed in clothing corresponding to the social elite; behind appears the feathered serpent.
Originally, the feathered serpent was related to water, a fundamental aspect in Olmec mythology, and to fertility. It would be the Quetzalcóatl in the Teotihuacán culture and would have many similarities with Kukulcán, the Mayan deity.
Sources
- Coe, Michael D., Koontz, Rex. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs . Sixth edition. Thames and Hudson, New York, 2008.
- Cyphers, Ann. The Olmecs of San Lorenzo: the beginning of civilization in Mesoamerica | OC:TL (octl.mx) , 2019.
- Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: America’s First Civilization . Thames and Hudson, London, 2004.
- Gonzalez Lauck, Rebecca B. Complex A, La Venta, Tabasco. Mexican Archeology Vol XV – No. 87 , 2007.
- Grove, David C. Olmec Sacred Hills . Trand. Elisa Ramírez. Mexican Archeology Vol XV – No. 87, 2007.
