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This video describes the ancient Olmec ball game played with rubber balls that you hit through rings.

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This article explains how the Olmec ball game had multiple aspects of it, such as religion(supplying people for human sacrifice), betting (betting on which team will win), and more.

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The sport known simply as the Ball Game was popular across Mesoamerica and played by all the major civilizations from the Olmecs to the Aztecs. The impressive stone courts became a staple feature of a city's sacred complex and there were often several playing courts in a single city. More than just a game, though, the event could have a religious significance and featured in episodes of Mesoamerican mythology. The contests even supplied candidates for human sacrifice, for the sport could, quite literally, be a game of life or death.

Origins

The game was invented sometime in the Preclassical Period (2500-100 BCE), probably by the Olmec, and became a common Mesoamerican-wide feature of the urban landscape by the Classical Period (300-900 CE). Eventually, the game was even exported to other cultures in North America and the Caribbean.

In Mesoamerican mythology the game is an important element in the story of the Maya gods Hun Hunahpú & Vucub Hunahpú.

In Mesoamerican mythology the game is an important element in the story of the Maya gods Hun Hunahpú and Vucub Hunahpú. The pair annoyed the gods of the underworld with their noisy playing and the two brothers were tricked into descending into Xibalba (the underworld) where they were challenged to a ball game. Losing the game, Hun Hunahpús had his head cut off; a foretaste of what would become common practice for players unfortunate enough to lose a game.

In another legend, a famous ball game was held at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan between the Aztec king Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (r. 1502-1520 CE) and the king of Texcoco. The latter had predicted that Motecuhzoma's kingdom would fall and the game was set-up to establish the truth of this bold prediction. Motecuhzoma lost the game and did, of course, lose his kingdom at the hands of the invaders from the Old World. The story also supports the idea that the ball game was sometimes used for the purposes of divination.

The Court

Courts were usually a part of a city's sacred precinct, a fact which suggests the ball game was more than just a game. Early Preclassic playing courts were simple, flattened-earth rectangles but by the Late Formative Period (300 BCE onwards) these evolved into more imposing areas which consisted of a flat rectangular surface set between two parallel stone walls. Each side could have a large vertical stone ring set high into the wall. The walls could be perpendicular or sloping away from the players and the ends of the court could be left open but defined using markers or, in other layouts, a wall closed off the playing space to create an I-shaped court. The court at Monte Albán, Oaxaca is a typical example of the I-shaped court. The length of the court could vary but the 60 m long court at Epiclassic El Tajín (650-900 CE) represents a typical size.

The flat court surface often has three large circular stone markers set in a line down the length of the court. Some of these markers from Maya sites have a quatrefoil cartouche indicating the underworld entrance which has led to speculation that the game may have symbolised the movement of the sun (the ball) through the underworld (the court) each night. Alternatively, the ball may have represented another heavenly body such as the moon and the court was the world.

Surviving courts abound and are spread across Mesoamerica. The Epiclassic city of Cantona has an incredible 24 courts with at least 18 being contemporary. El Tajín also has a remarkable number of courts (at least 11) and it may well have been a sacred centre for the sport, much like Olympia for athletics in ancient Greece. The earliest known court is from the Olmec city of San Lorenzo whilst the largest surviving stone playing court is at the Mayan- Toltec city of Chichén Itzá. With a length of 146 m and a width of 36 m, this court seems almost too large to be actually played in, especially with the rings set at the demanding height of 8 m.

The Rules

The exact rules of the game are not known for certain and in all probability there were variations across the various cultures and different periods. However, the main aim was to get a solid rubber (latex) ball through one of the rings. This was more difficult than it seems as players could not use their hands. One can imagine that good players became highly skilled at directing the ball using their padded elbows, knees, thighs and shoulders. Teams were composed of two or three players and were male-only. There was also an alternative version, less-widespread, where players used sticks to hit the ball.

The ball could be a lethal weapon in itself, as measuring anywhere from 10 to 30 cm in diameter and weighing from 500 g to 3.5 kg, it could easily break bones. Remarkably, seven rubber balls have been preserved in the bogs of El Manatí near the Olmec city of San Lorenzo. These balls range from 8 to 25 cm in diameter and date from between 1600 and 1200 BCE.

The Players

Players could be professionals or amateurs and there is evidence of betting on the outcome of important games. The game also had a strong association with warriors and war captives were often forced to play the game.

Players were frequently depicted in Mesoamerican art, appearing in sculpture, ceramics and architectural decoration - the latter often decorating the courts themselves - and these depictions often show that the players wore protective gear such as belts and padding for the knees, hips, elbows and wrists. The players in these works of art also typically wear a padded helmet or a huge feathered headdress, perhaps the latter being for ceremonial purposes only. Zapotec relief stones at Dainzú also depict ball players wearing grilled helmets as well as knee-guards and gauntlets.

Winners of the game received trophies, many of which have been excavated and include hachas and palmas. A hacha was a representation of the human head (early ones might have actually been heads) with a handle attached and was used as a trophy for a winning player, a piece of ceremonial equipment or as a marker in the court itself. A palma was also most likely a trophy or element of ceremonial costume worn by ball players. They are frequently represented in stone and can take the form of arms, hands, a player or a fan-tailed bird. Other trophies for game winners include stone yokes (typically u-shaped to be worn around the waist in imitation of the protective waist gear worn by players) and hand stones, often elaborately carved. All of these trophies are frequently found in graves and are reminders of the link between the sport and the underworld in Mesoamerican mythology.

As games often had a religious significance the captain of the losing team, or even sometimes the entire team, were sacrificed to the gods. Such scenes are depicted in the decorative sculpture on the courts themselves, perhaps most famously on the South ball court at El Tajín and at Chichén Itzá, where one relief panel shows two teams of seven players with one player having been decapitated. Another ominous indicator of the macabre turn that this sporting event could take is the presence of tzompantli (the skull racks where severed heads from sacrifices were displayed) rendered in stone carvings near the ball courts. The Classic Maya even invented a parallel game where captives, once defeated in the real game, were tied up and used as balls themselves and unceremoniously rolled down a flight of steps.

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The sport known simply as the Ball Game was popular across Mesoamerica and played by all the major civilizations from the Olmecs to the Aztecs. The impressive stone courts became a staple feature of a city's sacred complex and there were often several playing courts in a single city.

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This article describes where, when, how, what, and why the Olmec ball game was played.

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The Mesoamerican Ball Game is the oldest known sport in the Americas and originated in southern Mexico approximately 3,700 years ago. For many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec, it was a ritual, political and social activity that involved the whole community.

The ball game took place in specific I-shaped buildings, recognizable in many archaeological sites, called ballcourts. There are an estimated 1,300 known ballcourts in Mesoamerica.

The earliest evidence of the practice of the ball game comes to us from ceramic figurines of ballplayers recovered from El Opeño, Michoacan state in western Mexico about 1700 BC. Fourteen rubber balls were found at the shrine of El Manatí in Veracruz, deposited over a long period beginning about 1600 BC. The oldest example of a ballcourt discovered to date was built about 1400 BC, at the site of Paso de la Amada, an important Formative site in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico; and the first consistent imagery, including ball-playing costumes and paraphernalia, is known from the San Lorenzo Horizon of the Olmec civilization, ca 1400-1000 BC.

Archaeologists agree that the origin of the ball game is linked with the origin of ranked society. The ball court at Paso de la Amada was constructed near the chief's house and, later on, the famous colossal heads were carved depicting leaders wearing ballgame helmets. Even if the locational origins are not clear, archaeologists believe that the ball game represented a form of social display-whoever had the resources to organize it gained social prestige.

According to Spanish historical records and indigenous codexes, we know that the Maya and Aztecs used the ball game to solve hereditary issues, wars, to foretell the future and to make important ritual and political decisions.

The ball game was played in specific open constructions called ball courts. These usually were laid out in the form of a capital I, consisting of two parallel structures that delimited a central court. These lateral structures had sloping walls and benches, where the ball bounced, and some had stone rings suspended from the top. Ball courts were usually surrounded by other buildings and facilities, most of which probably were of perishable materials; however, masonry constructions usually involved surrounding low walls, small shrines, and platforms from which people observed the game.

Almost all main Mesoamerican cities had at least one ball court. Interestingly, no ball court has yet been identified at Teotihuacan, the major metropolis of Central Mexico. An image of a ball game is visible on the murals of Tepantitla, one of Teotihuacan's residential compounds, but no ball court. The Terminal Classic Maya city of Chichen Itzá has the largest ball court; and El Tajin, a center that flourished between the Late Classic and the Epiclassic on the Gulf Coast, had as many as 17 ball courts.

Evidence suggests that a wide variety of types of games, all played with a rubber ball, existed in ancient Mesoamerica, but the most widespread was the "hip game". This was played by two opposing teams, with a variable number of players. The aim of the game was to put the ball into the opponent's end zone without using hands or feet: only hips could touch the ball. The game was scored using different point systems; but we have no direct accounts, either indigenous or European, that precisely describe the techniques or rules of the game.

Ball games were violent and dangerous and players wore protective gear, usually made of leather, such as helmets, knee pads, arm and chest protectors and gloves. Archaeologists call the special protection constructed for the hips "yokes", for their resemblance to animal yokes.

A further violent aspect of the ball game involved human sacrifices, which were often an integral part of the activity. Among the Aztec, decapitation was a frequent end for the losing team. It has also been suggested that the game was a way to resolve conflicts among polities without resorting to real warfare. The Classic Maya origin story told in the Popol Vuh describes the ballgame as a contest between humans and underworld deities, with the ballcourt representing a portal to the underworld.

However, ball games were also the occasion for communal events such as feasting, celebration, and gambling.

The entire community was differently involved in a ball game:

Ballplayers: The players themselves were probably men of noble origins or aspirations. The winners gained both wealth and social prestige.

Sponsors: Ball court construction, as well as game organization, required some form of sponsorship. Affirmed leaders, or people who wanted to be leaders, considered ball game sponsorship an opportunity to emerge or reaffirm their power.

Ritual Specialists: Ritual specialists often performed religious ceremonies before and after the game.

Audience: All sorts of people participated as spectators to the event: local commoners and people coming from other towns, nobles, sport supporters, food sellers and other vendors.

Gamblers: Gambling was an integral component of ball games. Bettors were both nobles and commoners, and sources tell us that the Aztec had very strict regulations about bet payments and debts.

A modern version of the Mesoamerican ballgame, called ulama, is still played in Sinaloa, Northwest Mexico. The game is played with a rubber ball hit only with the hips and resemble a net-less volleyball.
Hosler D, Burkett SL, and Tarkanian MJ. 1999. Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284(5422):1988-1991. Leyenaar TJJ. 1992. Ulama, the survival of the Mesoamerican ballgame Ullamaliztli. Kiva 58(2):115-153.

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What Were the Rules of the Oldest Known Sport in the Americas?

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The Mesoamerican Ball Game is the oldest known sport in the Americas and originated in southern Mexico approximately 3,700 years ago. For many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec, it was a ritual, political and social activity that involved the whole community.

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This article talks about many aspects of the Olmec, including their religion, the gods they had, etc.

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The Olmec culture thrived along Mexico's Gulf Coast from approximately 1200-400 B.C. The first great Mesoamerican culture, it had been in decline for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, therefore, much information about the Olmecs has been lost. We know the Olmecs primarily through their art, sculpture, and architecture. Although many mysteries remain, ongoing work by archaeologists, anthropologists, and other researchers has given us something of a glimpse into what Olmec life might have been like.

The Olmecs practiced basic agriculture using the "slash-and-burn" technique, in which overgrown plots of land are burned: this clears them for planting and the ashes act as fertilizer. They planted many of the same crops seen in the region today, such as squash, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Maize was a staple of the Olmec diet, although it is possible that it was introduced late in the development of their culture. Whenever it was introduced, it soon became very important: one of the Olmec Gods is associated with maize. The Olmecs avidly fished from nearby lakes and rivers. Clams, alligators, and various types of fish were an important part of their diet. The Olmecs preferred to make settlements near water, as the floodplains were good for agriculture and fish and shellfish could be had more easily. For meat, they had domestic dogs and the occasional deer. A vital part of the Olmec diet was nixtamal, a special sort of corn meal ground with seashells, lime or ashes, the addition of which greatly enhances the nutritional value of the cornmeal.

In spite of only having Stone Age technology, the Olmecs were able to make several sorts of tools which made their life easier. They used whatever was at hand, such as clay, stone, bone, wood or deer antlers. They were skilled at making ​ pottery: vessels and plates used for storing and cooking food. Clay pots and vessels were extremely common among the Olmec: literally, millions of potsherds have been discovered in and around Olmec sites. Tools were mostly made of stone and include basic items such as hammers, wedges, mortar-and-pestles and mano-and-metate grinders used for mashing corn and other grains. Obsidian was not native to the Olmec lands, but when it could be had, it made excellent knives.

The Olmec culture is remembered today in part because it was the first Mesoamerican culture to produce small cities, most notably San Lorenzo and La Venta (their original names are unknown). These cities, which have been extensively investigated by archaeologists, were indeed impressive centers for politics, religion, and culture, but most ordinary Olmecs did not live in them. Most common Olmecs were simple farmers and fishermen who lived in family groups or small villages. Olmec homes were simple affairs: generally, one large building made of earth packed around poles, which served as a sleeping area, dining room, and shelter. Most homes probably had a small garden of herbs and basic foods. Because the Olmecs preferred to live in or near flood plains, they built their homes on small mounds or platforms. They dug holes in their floors to store food.

Excavations show that smaller villages consisted of a handful of homes, most likely inhabited by family groups. Fruit trees such as zapote or papaya were common in villages. Larger excavated villages often have a central mound of greater size: this would be where the home of a prominent family or local chieftain was built, or perhaps a small shrine to a god whose name is now long-forgotten. The status of the families that made up the village could be discerned by the how far they lived from this town center. In larger towns, more remains of animals such as dog, alligator, and deer have been found than in smaller villages, suggesting that these foods were reserved for local elites.

The Olmec people had a well-developed religion. According to archaeologist Richard Diehl, there are five aspects of Olmec religion, including a well-defined cosmos, a shaman class, sacred places and sites, identifiable gods and specific rituals and ceremonies. Peter Joralemon, who has studied the Olmecs for years, has identified no fewer than eight gods from surviving Olmec art. Common Olmecs who worked the fields and caught fish in the rivers probably only participated in religious practices as observers, because there was an active priest class and the rulers and ruling family most likely had specific and important religious duties. Many of the Olmec gods, such as the Rain God and Feathered Serpent, would go on to form part of the pantheon of later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec and Maya. The Olmec also played the ritualistic Mesoamerican ball game.

Most of what we know about the Olmec today is due to surviving examples of Olmec art. The most easily recognizable pieces are the massive colossal heads, some of which are nearly ten feet tall. Other forms of Olmec art that have survived include statues, figurines, celts, thrones, wooden busts and cave paintings. The Olmec cities of San Lorenzo and La Venta most likely had an artisan class who worked on these sculptures. Common Olmecs likely produced only useful "art" such as pottery vessels. That's not to say that the Olmec artistic output did not affect the common people, however: the boulders used to make the colossal heads and thrones were quarried many miles from the workshops, meaning that thousands of commoners would be pressed into service to move the stones on sledges, rafts, and rollers to where they were needed.

Understanding the Olmec culture is very important to modern-day researchers and archaeologists. First of all, the Olmec was the "mother" culture of Mesoamerica, and many aspects of Olmec culture, such as gods, glyphic writing, and artistic forms, became part of later civilizations such as the Maya and Aztecs. Even more importantly, the Olmec were one of only six primary or "pristine" civilizations in the world, the others being ancient China, Egypt, Sumeria, the Indus of India and the Chavin culture of Peru. Pristine civilizations are those that developed somewhere without any significant influence from previous civilizations. These primary civilizations were forced to develop on their own, and how they developed teaches us a lot about our distant ancestors. Not only are the Olmecs a pristine civilization, they were the only ones to develop in a humid forest environment, making them a special case indeed.

The Olmec civilization had gone into decline by 400 B.C. and historians aren't exactly sure why. Their decline probably had much to do with wars and climate change. After the Olmec, several clearly post-Olmec societies developed in the Veracruz region.

There is much that is still unknown about the Olmecs, including some very important, basic things such as what they called themselves ("Olmec" is an Aztec word applied to sixteenth-century dwellers in the region). Dedicated researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is known about this mysterious ancient culture, bringing new facts to light and correcting errors previously made.
Coe, Michael D. "Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs." Ancient Peoples and Places, Rex Koontz, 7th Edition, Thames & Hudson, June 14, 2013. Cyphers, Ann. "Surgimiento y decadencia de San Lorenzo, Veracruz." Arqueología Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: America's First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Grove, David C. "Cerros Sagradas Olmecas." Trans. Elisa Ramirez. Arqueología Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1993.

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The Olmec culture thrived along Mexico's Gulf Coast from approximately 1200-400 B.C. The first great Mesoamerican culture, it had been in decline for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, therefore, much information about the Olmecs has been lost. We know the Olmecs primarily through their art, sculpture, and architecture.

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This article describes the ancient process of bloodletting. This offering to the gods started with the Olmec, and has continued on from them into other cultures.

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Bloodletting--purposefully cutting the human body to release blood--is an ancient ritual, associated with both healing and sacrifice. Bloodletting was a regular form of medical treatment for ancient Greeks, with its benefits debated by scholars such as Hippocrates and Galen.

Bloodletting or auto-sacrifice was a cultural trait of most of the societies in Mesoamerica, beginning with the Olmec perhaps as early as 1200 AD. This type of religious sacrifice involved a person using a sharp instrument such as an agave spine or shark's tooth to pierce a fleshy part of his own body. The resulting blood would drip onto a lump of copal incense or piece of cloth or bark paper, and then those materials would be burned. According to historical records of the Zapotec , Mixtec, and Maya, burning blood was one way to communicate with the sky gods.

Artifacts associated with bloodletting include shark's teeth, maguey thorns, stingray spines, and obsidian blades. Specialized elite materials--obsidian eccentrics, greenstone picks, and 'spoons'--are thought to have been used for elite bloodletting sacrifices in the Formative period and later cultures.

A so-called "bloodletting spoon" is a type of artifact discovered on many Olmec archaeological sites. Although there is some variety, the spoons generally have a flattened 'tail' or blade, with a thickened end. The thick part has a shallow off-center bowl on one side and a second, smaller bowl on the other side. Spoons usually have a small hole pierced through them, and in Olmec art are often depicted as hanging from people's clothing or ears.

Bloodletting spoons have been recovered from Chalcatzingo, Chacsinkin, and Chichén Itzá; the images are found carved in murals and on stone sculptures at San Lorenzo, Cascajal, and Loma del Zapote.

The real function of the Olmec spoon has long been debated. They're called 'bloodletting spoons' because originally scholars believed them to have been for holding blood from auto-sacrifice, the ritual of personal bloodletting. Some scholars still prefer that interpretation, but others have suggested spoons were for holding paints, or for use as snuffing platforms for taking hallucinogens, or even that they were effigies of the Big Dipper constellation. In a recent article in Ancient Mesoamerica, Billie J. A. Follensbee suggests Olmec spoons were part of a hitherto unrecognized toolkit for textile production.

Her argument is in part based on the shape of the tool, which approximates bone weaving battens recognized in several Central American cultures, including some from Olmec sites. Follansbee also identifies several other tools made of elite greenstone or obsidian, such as spindle whorls, picks, and plaques, that could have been used in weaving or cord-making techniques.
Marcus, Joyce. 2002. Blood and Bloodletting. Pp 81-82 in Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia, Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster, eds. Garland Publishing, Inc. New York.

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Bloodletting and Why Ancient Cultures Did It

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Bloodletting--purposefully cutting the human body to release blood--is an ancient ritual, associated with both healing and sacrifice. Bloodletting was a regular form of medical treatment for ancient Greeks, with its benefits debated by scholars such as Hippocrates and Galen.

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The Olmec religion has various aspects of it. This video does a good job of covering many of those aspects.

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This article covers the diet of the Olmec, and the food they ate, such as maize, alligator, and more.

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The Olmec culture thrived along Mexico's Gulf Coast from approximately 1200-400 B.C. The first great Mesoamerican culture, it had been in decline for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, therefore, much information about the Olmecs has been lost. We know the Olmecs primarily through their art, sculpture, and architecture. Although many mysteries remain, ongoing work by archaeologists, anthropologists, and other researchers has given us something of a glimpse into what Olmec life might have been like.

The Olmecs practiced basic agriculture using the "slash-and-burn" technique, in which overgrown plots of land are burned: this clears them for planting and the ashes act as fertilizer. They planted many of the same crops seen in the region today, such as squash, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Maize was a staple of the Olmec diet, although it is possible that it was introduced late in the development of their culture. Whenever it was introduced, it soon became very important: one of the Olmec Gods is associated with maize. The Olmecs avidly fished from nearby lakes and rivers. Clams, alligators, and various types of fish were an important part of their diet. The Olmecs preferred to make settlements near water, as the floodplains were good for agriculture and fish and shellfish could be had more easily. For meat, they had domestic dogs and the occasional deer. A vital part of the Olmec diet was nixtamal, a special sort of corn meal ground with seashells, lime or ashes, the addition of which greatly enhances the nutritional value of the cornmeal.

In spite of only having Stone Age technology, the Olmecs were able to make several sorts of tools which made their life easier. They used whatever was at hand, such as clay, stone, bone, wood or deer antlers. They were skilled at making ​ pottery: vessels and plates used for storing and cooking food. Clay pots and vessels were extremely common among the Olmec: literally, millions of potsherds have been discovered in and around Olmec sites. Tools were mostly made of stone and include basic items such as hammers, wedges, mortar-and-pestles and mano-and-metate grinders used for mashing corn and other grains. Obsidian was not native to the Olmec lands, but when it could be had, it made excellent knives.

The Olmec culture is remembered today in part because it was the first Mesoamerican culture to produce small cities, most notably San Lorenzo and La Venta (their original names are unknown). These cities, which have been extensively investigated by archaeologists, were indeed impressive centers for politics, religion, and culture, but most ordinary Olmecs did not live in them. Most common Olmecs were simple farmers and fishermen who lived in family groups or small villages. Olmec homes were simple affairs: generally, one large building made of earth packed around poles, which served as a sleeping area, dining room, and shelter. Most homes probably had a small garden of herbs and basic foods. Because the Olmecs preferred to live in or near flood plains, they built their homes on small mounds or platforms. They dug holes in their floors to store food.

Excavations show that smaller villages consisted of a handful of homes, most likely inhabited by family groups. Fruit trees such as zapote or papaya were common in villages. Larger excavated villages often have a central mound of greater size: this would be where the home of a prominent family or local chieftain was built, or perhaps a small shrine to a god whose name is now long-forgotten. The status of the families that made up the village could be discerned by the how far they lived from this town center. In larger towns, more remains of animals such as dog, alligator, and deer have been found than in smaller villages, suggesting that these foods were reserved for local elites.

The Olmec people had a well-developed religion. According to archaeologist Richard Diehl, there are five aspects of Olmec religion, including a well-defined cosmos, a shaman class, sacred places and sites, identifiable gods and specific rituals and ceremonies. Peter Joralemon, who has studied the Olmecs for years, has identified no fewer than eight gods from surviving Olmec art. Common Olmecs who worked the fields and caught fish in the rivers probably only participated in religious practices as observers, because there was an active priest class and the rulers and ruling family most likely had specific and important religious duties. Many of the Olmec gods, such as the Rain God and Feathered Serpent, would go on to form part of the pantheon of later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec and Maya. The Olmec also played the ritualistic Mesoamerican ball game.

Most of what we know about the Olmec today is due to surviving examples of Olmec art. The most easily recognizable pieces are the massive colossal heads, some of which are nearly ten feet tall. Other forms of Olmec art that have survived include statues, figurines, celts, thrones, wooden busts and cave paintings. The Olmec cities of San Lorenzo and La Venta most likely had an artisan class who worked on these sculptures. Common Olmecs likely produced only useful "art" such as pottery vessels. That's not to say that the Olmec artistic output did not affect the common people, however: the boulders used to make the colossal heads and thrones were quarried many miles from the workshops, meaning that thousands of commoners would be pressed into service to move the stones on sledges, rafts, and rollers to where they were needed.

Understanding the Olmec culture is very important to modern-day researchers and archaeologists. First of all, the Olmec was the "mother" culture of Mesoamerica, and many aspects of Olmec culture, such as gods, glyphic writing, and artistic forms, became part of later civilizations such as the Maya and Aztecs. Even more importantly, the Olmec were one of only six primary or "pristine" civilizations in the world, the others being ancient China, Egypt, Sumeria, the Indus of India and the Chavin culture of Peru. Pristine civilizations are those that developed somewhere without any significant influence from previous civilizations. These primary civilizations were forced to develop on their own, and how they developed teaches us a lot about our distant ancestors. Not only are the Olmecs a pristine civilization, they were the only ones to develop in a humid forest environment, making them a special case indeed.

The Olmec civilization had gone into decline by 400 B.C. and historians aren't exactly sure why. Their decline probably had much to do with wars and climate change. After the Olmec, several clearly post-Olmec societies developed in the Veracruz region.

There is much that is still unknown about the Olmecs, including some very important, basic things such as what they called themselves ("Olmec" is an Aztec word applied to sixteenth-century dwellers in the region). Dedicated researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is known about this mysterious ancient culture, bringing new facts to light and correcting errors previously made.
Coe, Michael D. "Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs." Ancient Peoples and Places, Rex Koontz, 7th Edition, Thames & Hudson, June 14, 2013. Cyphers, Ann. "Surgimiento y decadencia de San Lorenzo, Veracruz." Arqueología Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: America's First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Grove, David C. "Cerros Sagradas Olmecas." Trans. Elisa Ramirez. Arqueología Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1993.

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The Olmec culture thrived along Mexico's Gulf Coast from approximately 1200-400 B.C. The first great Mesoamerican culture, it had been in decline for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, therefore, much information about the Olmecs has been lost. We know the Olmecs primarily through their art, sculpture, and architecture.

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This video lists some foods grown and eaten by the Olmec, as well as the climate that allows them to be grown.

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Olmec Chocolate Drink - Activity Guidesheet

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Olmec Chocolate Drink - Activity Guidesheet

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This pdf has instructions to make an Olmec chocolate drink to enjoy, while learning about the cultures of the Mesoamerican natives.