Jamie: The Olmecs

The Olmecs:
The people of Olmec were a native, North American tribe who were very innovative for their time. They are believed to have lived in the “Pre-classic” period, roughly 1500 B.C.E- 200 B.C.E. they were a very influential tribe who had many firsts such as the first to have a basic writing system, the Mesoamerican calendar and the perhaps the origins of blood and human sacrificing.

The history of the Olmecs:
The Olmecs lived in the lowlands of Mexico. Due to the fact that they lived in these we

t swampy lowlands it is apparent that this helped them in their growth as the land provided them with a good soil to grow their abundant food stock. They were thought to be a very privileged people as they were able to dominate over other local tribes. They left behind many artifacts showing us of their prominence and established civilization. Many luxurious artifacts such as jade, obsidian and magnetite, all highly valued items used in art forms by the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican tribes. Due to these cultural items, historians believe that the Olmecs had a basic system of trade with surrounding tribes.

Due to their prominent tribe they were very innovative as well. Due to their beliefs, many practices emerged, such as sacrifice, writings and their creative art forms.

They are believed to, possibly, have created the first writing system. The Cascajal block, found in 2006, dated to be 650 B.C.E. and 900 B.C.E., pre-dating a former type of 500 B.C.E on the Zapotec writing. The block has been found to have similar symbols to 

later character forms used, It contained 68 characters.


Olmec Art:

Much of their art works have cultural and spiritual connections. This beautiful art ranges from masks, to bottles and to even sculptures of heads and animals. These artworks really reflect the culture of the Olmec people. The Olmec heads are believed to be of iconic heads in power and gods. They are carved from large blocks boulders or volcanic basalt. The largest weighs over 20 tones.

The Olmec people were very innovative and believed to be one of the best-established pre-Columbian tribes. They set the path for other tribes to learn from their knowledge and reflected their ways of life in their amazing artworks.


Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmecs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mexico.Tab.OlmecHead.01.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascajal_block
http://www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html
http://www.sitchin.com/images/olmecs.jpg
http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/maolmec.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/olmec-alternative-origin-speculations
http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/art/55/the_olmecs.htm
http://www.franklinco.k12.nc.us/ESL/lessons/mexicounit/Olmecheadblackwhite.jpg
http://library.thinkquest.org/18778/olmec.htm