Who were the Olmecs, and where were Mesoamerica's first cities?
The Olmecs, Mesoamerica's first cities
Los olmecas, las primeras ciudades de Mesoamérica
c. 12th century BC–400 BC. On the hot Gulf coast of today's Veracruz and Tabasco, between about 1200 and 400 BC, the people archaeologists call Olmecs built the first cities of…
Where: Mexico, La Venta
What happened
On the hot Gulf coast of today's Veracruz and Tabasco, between about 1200 and 400 BC, the people archaeologists call Olmecs built the first cities of Mesoamerica. San Lorenzo grew to thousands of inhabitants and carved the colossal basalt heads, portraits of rulers weighing up to tens of tonnes, that are their most famous legacy; around 900 BC La Venta took over as the main centre, with the region's first great pyramid and rich jade offerings. We do not know what they called themselves or exactly what language they spoke. Olmec art and ideas spread widely, and many later Mesoamerican habits, planned ceremonial centres, the ball game, calendars, early writing and probably chocolate drinking, appear here first, though scholars no longer simply call them the 'mother culture'.
Say it
Los olmecas hicieron cabezas de piedra gigantes.
The Olmecs made giant stone heads.
Why it matters
The Olmecs set the pattern for three thousand years of Mesoamerican civilisation, and the word olmeca itself is Nahuatl, 'rubber people', one of the Aztec words Spanish later borrowed.
Connected
- The Classic Maya: Tikal, Palenque and the collapse (c. 250–900)
- The Classic Maya: Tikal, Palenque and the collapse (c. 250–900)
- Teotihuacan, city of the gods (between 100 BC and 650)
- Teotihuacan, city of the gods (between 100 BC and 650)
Sources
- Olmec Civilization — World History Encyclopedia
- Cultura olmeca — Arqueología Mexicana (Editorial Raíces)
- La Venta — Lugares INAH