#la venta

Olmec Dragon

I´m really happy with my new sketchbook, so @indigo20go  and I went to the zoo to draw some animals :3

Kings of Cooperation: The Olmec city of Tres Zapotes may have owed its longevity to a new form of government

On a sweltering day in 1862 at the foot of the Tuxtla Mountains in the Mexican state of Veracruz, a farmworker was clearing a cornfield when he hit something hard and smooth lodged in the earth. He thought it was the rounded base of an iron cauldron buried upside down, and, it being the 1860s, he reported the find to the owner of the hacienda where he worked. The farmworker’s boss told him to dig up the cauldron immediately and bring it to him. As the farmworker labored to uncover the object, he realized he had found not a large iron bowl, but a gargantuan stone sculpture with a pair of glaring eyes, a broad nose, and a downturned mouth. What had appeared to be the base of a cauldron was actually the top of a helmet worn by the glowering figure. What the farmworker had unearthed was a colossal Olmec head, one of the first clues to the existence of that ancient culture.

Over the next century and a half, archaeologists would uncover many more of these heads along the Mexican Gulf Coast and discover the ancient cities where they were carved. The site of that first fateful discovery became known as Tres Zapotes, after a type of fruit tree common in the area. Along with the sites of San Lorenzo and La Venta, Tres Zapotes was one of the great capitals of the Olmec culture, which emerged by 1200 B.C. as one of the first societies in Mesoamerica organized into a complex social and political hierarchy.

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    OLMEC CIVILIZATION, 1000 – 600BCE

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Olmec Head, La Venta Monument 1OLMEC CIVILIZATION

                                     1000 – 600BCE241 CM208 CM

Olmec Head, La Venta Monument 1 is an Olmec stone sculpture 

                                created between 1000BCE and 600BCE.                                       .

        It lives at the Parque Museo La Venta, Villahermosa in Mexico. 

                The image is used according to educational fair use, 

                            and tagged heads and sculpture. 

        See Olmec Head, La Venta Monument 1 in the Kaleidoscope

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written: 2 october 2022 - 10 october 2022

[disclaimer: this specific entry is actually a paper i wrote for my art of latin america class. so it would be a little different from what my previous entries are. i would say this is a well written paper considering the grade i received. my professor made comments that i will take into consideration for the next time i write my paper, anyways.... here is axis mundi and colossal heads.]

the term veracruz usually seems to be in the air when referring to or talking about cultures in mesoamerica. as more things were uncovered, archeologists and possible art historians began categorizing the the specific names and tied them with their material culture. the first "mother culture" or "sister culture" was introduced upon learning. the olmec civilization was referred to as the "mother culture" or "sister culture;" however, as far as the learning process goes, and the anthropological meaning and difference between the two, was the olmec civilization a site that genuinely revolutionized the beginning of mesoamerica cultures? before the maya culture, there were the olmecs. "olmeca" is referred to as the "rubber people," symbolizing people who inhabited the "jungle country of the gulf coast" (coe 58). the olmecs were one of the earliest large settlements out there during their time, and a couple of sites that will be discussed are san lorenzo and la venta. although there is much to talk about with the start of their civilization, the main focus will be material culture and how it resonated with the foundation of the different cultures in mesoamerica. the two main concepts that progressively show throughout the olmec civilization are the axis mundi and the colossal heads with their symbolic meanings.

a type of cosmovision that is important to the culture of mesoamerica is the axis mundi, as known as the center of the world. the axis mundi is the fifth direction of the cosmovision, and it comes in many different shapes and forms. as learned in class, altar 4 from the olmec pre-classic site of la venta is one of the main axis mundis because of its function and symbolic meaning. although not depicted well in the la venta powerpoint, four corncobs surround the person in the middle. the four corncobs represent the four directions; north, south, east, and west, making the person in the middle the essential direction: the center. the person in the center of the altar can be addressed as a royal or high-status member because of the specific ball game helment he is wearing (ellsworth notes from jhanella mae). the figure wearing the ball game helmet signifies that the person is a warrior. mesoamerican cultures commonly associate themselves with the underworld as they believe there are three worlds: the heavens, earth, and the underworld. as the viewers can see, he is emerging from the cave. the cave that he emerges from is the portal to the underworld. in this case, he is coming out of the underworld and onto Earth. the heavens are depicted through the thick sky band on top of the altar. not only that but to the bottom of the altar is a twisted band that symbolizes the sense of motion. the band will always let the viewers know that the world will keep moving. 

as archeologists surveyed more of the olmec site, they found well-preserved colossal heads. coe describes the colossal heads as “portraits of mighty rulers, with flat-faced, thick-lipped features,” which may sound unsettling but clearly expressed (coe 68). he also mentions wearing “helmet-like headgear that probably served as protection in both war and in the ceremonial game played with a rubber ball throughout mesoamerica,” which is similar to the la venta altar 4 because of the ball game helmet (coe 69). these large colossal heads were deeply buried throughout san lorenzo’s site and dated back to the early formative period (coe 68-69). the large colossal heads were made from basalt rock which can only be found near a volcano; this means that the olmec people dragged the massive basalt rock more than 50 miles north to get to their site in san lorenzo (coe 68). the colossal heads have different ball game helmets identifying their different rules during their time. their helmet could have anything from a jaguar paw to multi-drilled beads (coe 68-69). although not depicted in coe’s book, some colossal heads have destroyed mouths and noses. they create the colossal heads for the rulers to channel their power; however, once they pass away, they purposely destroy the moth and nose for the power to follow them to the afterlife. a website was posted on the key olmec sites powerpoint to understand and see the different helmets on the colossal heads. not only did the website show where each colossal head was found, but it also showed the size difference between each head. 

to consider the olmec site as one of the first cultures in mesoamerica is establishing. although not as significant as la venta altar 4 and the colossal heads, honorable mentions found at the sites of an olmec civilization include a stele that can depict anything about a ruler or monuments scattered throughout the site of la venta, signifying a burial or sacrificial site. nowadays, some people do not agree that altars are not altars; however, we cannot change history. la venta altar 4 will be part of history whether some agree with it. it is a cosmovision that represents the five directions of the universe. there are more statues with symbolic meanings to talk about; however, the olmec colossal heads are one statue that made its mark and significance to civilization that cannot be forgotten.

signing off: jhanella mae

(CITATIONS AFTER THE CUT)