Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
While the Olmec were not the first in Mesoamerica to organize long-distance exchanges of goods, the Olmec period saw a significant expansion in interregional trade routes, more variety in material goods exchanged and a greater diversity in the sources from which the base materials were obtained.
There is evidence of trade routes starting as far north as the Mexico Central Plateau, and going down to the Pacific coast. These trade routes and cultural contacts then went on as far as Central America. These networks operated with various interruptions from pre-Olmec times and up to the Late Classical Period (600–900 CE).
The Olmec culture represents a milestone of Mesoamerican history, as various characteristics that define the region first appeared there. Among them are the state organization, the development of the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day secular calendar, the first writing system, and urban planning.
Gordon Ekholm, an archaeologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, suggested that the Olmec art style might have originated in Bronze Age China. [59] Some researchers have argued that the Olmec civilization came into existence with the help of Chinese refugees, particularly at the end of the Shang dynasty. [60]
Map of Maximus Planudes (c. 1300), earliest extant realization of Ptolemy's world map (2nd century) Gangnido (Korea, 1402) Bianco world map (1436) Fra Mauro map (c. 1450) Map of Bartolomeo Pareto (1455) Genoese map (1457) Map of Juan de la Cosa (1500) Cantino planisphere (1502) Piri Reis map (1513) Dieppe maps (c. 1540s-1560s) Mercator 1569 ...
Chronologically, the history of the Olmecs can be divided into the Early Formative (1800-900 BCE), Middle Formative (900-400 BCE) and Late Formative (400 BCE-200AD). The Olmecs are known as the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica, meaning that the Olmec civilization was the first culture that spread and influenced Mesoamerica.
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Pages for logged out editors learn more
What would become the Olmec civilization had its roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco, which began around 5100 to 4600 BC. [163] The emergence of the Olmec civilization has traditionally been dated to around 1600 to 1500 BC. Olmec features first emerged in the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, fully coalescing