Olmec civilization

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Who Are the Olmec ? The Olmec are the ancient people who lived in Central America in 16-17 centuries BC on the area of modern Mexico. Scientists suppose that the Olmec made the first American civilization which gave the beginning to the other indian cultures of the pre-colonial epoch. That’s why in Latin America that civilization is called ‘ cultura madre ’ (in Spanish) what means ‘the mother culture’.

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The Olmec’s Culture The Olmec’s culture is determined with a line of art features which express religious motives. The most common ones are images of jaguar-kid, jaguar masks, stone heads in helmets. Among the elements of material culture there are huge heads of stone, tombs with walls of basalt columns, ideal handling of nephrite and serpentine, mosaic platforms of minerals, mirrors of polished stone. Jaguar was respected by the Olmec as the main idol who reflected the strength of ground and night . The most famous centers of the Olmec’s culture are San Lorenso , la- Venta , Tres-Sapotes , Serro -de- las -Mesas etc.

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The Olmec’s Culture The Olmec’s civilisation appeared for about a hundred years. Its vestiges disappeared in the 4th century BC, by the time when the centers of future Mexican civilisations ( Teotiuacan and Monte-Alban) had just arised . It was the Olmec who invented and used the famous 260-day calendar which had been used by all American cultures.

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Why did the Olmec Disappear? The Reason of Collapse The Olmec had left us nothing – neither a house, a temple or a book, nor a piece of clothes or a bone. There are only ceramics and stones which weren’t destroyed by time and killing climate. The Olmec are supposed to be one of the first people on the continent, who influenced all the following pre-Columbus civilizations of Mexico and the Central America. The beliefs, myths and the worldview of the Olmec were inherited by the Empires of Maya and Aztecs.

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Why did the Olmec Disappear? The Reason of Collapse The problem of origin and collapse of this enigmatic people which populated wide areas of the Southern Mexico is still the main stumbling block for the researchers who is interested in pre-Columbus history of the New World. END