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The Olmecs disappeared mysteriously in the 4th century BCE, leaving the region sparsely populated until the 19th century. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame , hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.
The Olmec flourished on the Gulf Coast of Mexico c. 1250–400 BCE.The evidence for the Cascajal writing system is based solely on the text on the Cascajal Block, but existence of a system of Olmec hieroglyphs has been postulated independently from the Cascajal Block on the basis of previous discoveries of glyphs individually or in small groups.
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 ]
La Venta was the last great Olmec centre. Olmec artisans sculpted jade and clay figurines of Jaguars and humans. Their iconic giant heads – believed to be of Olmec rulers – stood in every major city. The Olmec civilization ended in 400 BC, with the defacing and destruction of San Lorenzo and La Venta, two of the major cities.
"The Olmec Football Player" [30] is a 1980 short story by Katherine MacLean. In it, at least one of the Olmec colossal heads depicts an African-American college student who traveled back in time while wearing his football helmet. In The Mysterious Cities of Gold, the few remaining Olmecs are described as being descendants of Atlanteans.
Olmec-style murals in the Oxotitlán, Juxtlahuaca and Cauadzidziqui caves and sculpture from the Teopantecuanitlan site, confirm a strong connection with Chalcatzingo in the Valley of Morelos. Iconographic representations similarities of these sites with the Pacific coast of Chiapas and Guatemala, depict closer relations than those suggested by ...
A cave in the Himalayas revealed the most detailed explanation yet for the ancient civilization’s decline.
[7] However, de Orozco did meet with some resistance in Antequera, which would be subdued by the end of 1521. [7] Despite submitting to Spanish rule, the Zapotecs would also suffer oppression from the Spanish as well, with many Zapotec cities being destroyed and the population being subjected to forced labor and cultural assimilation. [9]