Olmec colossal heads The most striking art left behind by this culture are the Olmec colossal—very big—heads. Seventeen monumental stone representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders have been unearthed in the region to date.

The Olmec colossal heads are the most famous artifacts left behind by the Olmec civilization. The Olmec people are believed to have occupied a large part of modern-day Southern Mexico. person who studies artifacts and lifestyles of ancient cultures. material remains of a culture, such as tools, clothing, or food.

The Olmec were gifted artists who produced stone carvings, woodcarvings and cave paintings. They made carvings of all sizes, from tiny celts and figurines to massive stone heads. The stonework is made of many different types of stone, including basalt and jadeite.

Contents

• 2.1 Olmec Dragon (God I)
• 2.2 Maize deity (God II)
• 2.3 Rain Spirit and Were-jaguar (God III)
• 2.4 Banded-eye God (God IV)
• 2.5 Feathered Serpent (God V)
• 2.6 Fish or Shark Monster (God VI)

Teotihuacán is one of the world’s most impressive archaeological sites. The pyramid city, inhabited between 100 B.C. and 650 A.D., is located in a wide valley in Central Mexico on a height of aprox.

700 BC–1521 AD) was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture originated at least 2,500 years ago….Zapotec civilization.

The word Guelaguetza comes from the Zapotec language and is usually interpreted as the “reciprocal exchanges of gifts and services.” This is in keeping with the importance in indigenous cultures of sharing, reciprocity, and extended community.

The religion of the Zapotec is Roman Catholic, but belief in pagan spirits, rituals, and myths persists, to some extent intermingled with Christianity. The compadrazgo, a system of ritual kinship established with godparents, is important.

The Olmecs were the first group in Mesoamerica with specialized weapons and personnel for war. Their homeland was in the lowlands along the Gulf coast in the Mexican provinces of Tabasco and Veracruz . Training was provided by warrior societies to a military elite. Atlatls (spear-throwers) were not yet a weapon of war.

The Olmec art style was the major prestige style of Ancient Mesoamerica between c. 1,500 BCE and 400 BCE, or much of the Mesoamerican Formative (Preclassic) period (or c. 1500–400 BCE calibrated). Olmec artists were interested mainly in the general human form and certain supernatural creatures.

Jade was the most highly valued material in the Olmec world. Acquired by trade from distant sources, the natural colors ranged from white to blue-green to apple green.

All major Mesoamerican civilizations prominently featured a jaguar god, and for many, such as the Olmec, the jaguar was an important part of shamanism. For those who resided in or near the tropical jungle, the jaguar was well known and became incorporated into the lives of the inhabitants.

The Olmecs lived in hot, humid lowlands along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in what is now southern Veracruz and Tabasco states in southern Mexico. The first evidence of their remarkable art style appears about 1200 bce in San Lorenzo, their oldest known building site.

All seventeen of the confirmed heads in the Olmec heartland were sculpted from basalt mined in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz. Investigators have proposed that large Cerro Cintepec basalt boulders found on the southeastern slopes of the mountains are the source of the stone for the monuments.

The legendary origin of the Aztec people has them migrating from a homeland called Aztlan to what would become modern-day Mexico. While it is not clear where Aztlan was, a number of scholars believe that the Mexica—as the Aztec referred to themselves—migrated south to central Mexico in the 13th century.