More research is needed to know about the society at San Lorenzo: for example, what they ate, where they lived, what they believed. They shared the common goal to invest in major building projects, engineering structures and creating large gathering spaces that transcended the functional needs of daily life.
Potters at San Lorenzo created sophisticated vessels out of white clay, such as globular containers known as tecomates Ceramic arts at San Lorenzo were exported and imitated in the Valley of Mexico, near modern-day Mexico City, at village centers such as Tlatilco Experimentation with paste recipes and surface treatment for ceramic arts is especially evident in Olmec-period Mexico, even as far south as Guatemala and Honduras.
Sculpted out of basalt imported over long distances, these portray stoic male faces with individualized headgear.
The Olmec naturalism achieved in megalithic portraits extended also to portable stone sculptures, such as regalia related to the Mesoamerican ballgame No graves were ever excavated at San Lorenzo, and the few examples of Olmec writing remain undeciphered, so the identity of the possible leaders and residents of this important place have yet to be discovered. After about B. To the east, people built a complex of platforms and a large pyramid at the site known as La Venta , Tabasco.
La Venta architecture is distinguished by massive offerings composed of pavements made of rectangular greenstone slabs. In fact, the growth of La Venta as a center coincides with the influx of jade, from the Motagua River valley in Guatemala, and other types of greenstone from local sources into the Olmec region.
Other offerings of greenstone axes Olmec mythological beliefs were expressed by La Venta—period artists in jade sculpture. They animated large symbolic axes by portraying supernatural figures with downturned mouths, almond eyes, and cleft heads They also incised large celts with abstract images pertaining to the Olmec Maize God, depicted with L-shaped eyes, fangs, an elaborate headband, and a facial mask Greenstone celts seemed to have held symbolic power as representations of maize sprouts.
Olmec mythology was populated by a variety of characters, expressed as animal creatures that appear in jade sculptures, such as eagles Regalia in jade, such as imitations of the claws of felines Large stone sculpture at La Venta contains portraits of such leaders, both men and women, who are shown in standing portraits and mythological situations in which they emerge from caves or wrangle infant deities After B.
North of this is a basalt-pillar monument, mythological First Father's House in the North, symbol of the present world he placed in order. La Venta is also the source of an astonishing volume of stone sculpture: altars or thrones; the first vertical slab monument, or stela; a gigantic mosaic mask of serpentine blocks; colossal heads that are the hallmark of the Olmec style; and refined figures and celts carved from jade and other greenstone.
The dual ideas of divinity and kingship embodied in Olmec art united Mesoamerican peoples of different cultures and languages in a common vision of the world that transcended local politics. The masks and images both exalted and defined Olmec kingship, emphasizing the obligation of the ruler to serve his people as shaman, incarnation of the creator god, rainmaker, and protective warrior. Rex Koonz and Dr. Steven Zucker discussing Olmec iconography and the importance of jade, jadeite, and other greenstones.
Khan Academy Read more about the Olmec culture. Khan Academy Read more about Olmec baby-face figurines. Khan Academy Watch a video with Dr. Press ESC to exit window.
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