Who were the Olmecs?
Created | Updated Aug 8, 2005
In the depths of the Central American jungle, a weary traveller will sometimes stumble across a giant stone head. Unlike the Easter Island/Rapa Nui heads which are tall and thin, these stone heads a squat and almost like a cube. Who built these heads?
The Olmecs were a pre-Columbian civilisation that lived in the Tabasco and Veracruz regions of Mexico thousands of years ago, before the Maya, before the Aztecs. They are reckoned to be the earliest of the advanced civilisations in Central America. They first came to prominence in about 1150 BC.
They specialised in building monumental stone statues, and in particular the stone heads for which they are famed. These had thick lips, wide faces and what look like helmets. Some of these heads can be as big as <look this up>. The Olmecs also carved jade into small statues.
Their religion was centred around the image of a jaguar god, who bore some aspects of a jaguar and some of a human child.
In about 800 BC, the Olmec culture came to an end. The people were dispersed and no built the giant statues. Many of the cities were abandoned.
Crackpot theories
Some people have remarked that the features of the Olmec heads look more like Africans than like pre-Columbian aboriginal Americans. They have constructed elaborate theories about a race of Africans coming to America and ruling the natives, forcing them to construct these giant statues of the rulers.
The Olmecs were a pre-Columbian civilisation that lived in the Tabasco and Veracruz regions of Mexico thousands of years ago, before the Maya, before the Aztecs. They are reckoned to be the earliest of the advanced civilisations in Central America. They first came to prominence in about 1150 BC.
They specialised in building monumental stone statues, and in particular the stone heads for which they are famed. These had thick lips, wide faces and what look like helmets. Some of these heads can be as big as <look this up>. The Olmecs also carved jade into small statues.
Their religion was centred around the image of a jaguar god, who bore some aspects of a jaguar and some of a human child.
In about 800 BC, the Olmec culture came to an end. The people were dispersed and no built the giant statues. Many of the cities were abandoned.
Crackpot theories
Some people have remarked that the features of the Olmec heads look more like Africans than like pre-Columbian aboriginal Americans. They have constructed elaborate theories about a race of Africans coming to America and ruling the natives, forcing them to construct these giant statues of the rulers.
