The Olmecs: Storytelling through Sculpture
Hello Readers!
The video Lost Kingdoms of Central America Jacob Cooper takes us on trip through Mexico, showing us the history of the Olmec. The article "La Venta" by Rebecca Gonzalez Lauck is about the Olmec society and their customs and ways of life. The Olmec and their ways of living connects to my topic of "What is the relationship between technology and invention in the creation of art?".The video states that “There is mimicry between man and jaguar and Olmec leaders believes that they could turn into felines, into mythical beings” (Lost 14:35- 14:58). The article complements this statement by sharing that “ Because there is no evidence of written language for the Olmec civilization, there are no texts to help explain the meaning of the themes depicted in its sculptural art… however, recent research at La Venta indicates the monumental sculptures had a specific function and were associates with particular kinds of edifices” (Gonzalez Lauck 800). While from our perspective their beliefs might be to think that they are crazy their art reflects how they lived. In the video they talked about how physically the people who were at the top of the hierarchy were literally living above everyone else and they expressed that through their art with levels of importance that humans and animals are at. The turning into jaguars feels like symbolism for how they thought of jaguars as above normal humans they thought of the upperclass the same way.
The article and the video had a lot of similarities but some differences as well. The olmec were a smart group of people and knew how to use their resources. An example of that being“The Olmec are also known as ‘the rubber people’ because they lived in an area where rubber was in abundance. Later rubber became a commodity that was traded in Mesoamerica“(Lost 25:32- 25:45). They were intelligent enough to know how to be mindful of their resources and use them to increase their quality of life. The article agrees with this statement by conveying that “La Venta represents the culmination of a long-term cultural manifestation that crystallized and consolidated a cultural substratrum that was adapted and adopted by contemporary and subsequent civilizations in ancient Middle America” (Gonzalez Lauck 800). The Olmec set an example for the future civilizations of the Americas. They were intelligent and thrived for so long because they knew how to use their resources while setting an example for centuries to come. Something that was the biggest difference is that while they were high intelligent the quote I used in the previous paragraph “There is mimicry between man and jaguar and Olmec leaders believes that they could turn into felines, into mythical beings” (Lost 14:35- 14:58) leads to a bit of a contradiction. While I personally think that it is symbolism because it makes more sense the archeologists in the video think that they are serious. A civilization that is so advanced but believes that people high in class can shape-shift makes it really difficult to claim how advanced they are.
All the information in the video and article was new and extremely eye opening. I knew that most past civilizations were intelligent but now concretely knowing that “ The archeological remains at La Venta provide irrefutable evidence of the sophistication and complexity of the Olmec civilization.” (Gonzalez Lauck 800) is astonishing. Looking at how they expressed their innovations through their are so eloquently makes me appreciate how rich their history is. Looking at their sculptures makes the viewer come to the conclusions that “The way they carved using stone tools displays an exquisite level of craftsmanship “ (Lost 11:54- 12:01). The Olmecs were storytellers through their art. They shared their ways and history through their sculptures. While our way of thinking and processing is much different from all those years ago and there was no text to verbally explain the art we still managed to put together the pieces and analyze the pieces.
Work Cited
Cooper, J. (n.d.). Lost kingdoms of Central America. BBC Four. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04hsz2v.
Elgin, J. (2021, September 15). Joel Elgin. Athraigh Print Studio. Joel Elgin Athraigh Print Studio. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.joelelginathraighprintstudio.com/joel-elgin-athraigh-studio-blog.
Evans, S. T., Webster, D. L., & Gonzalez Lauck , R. (2013). La Venta. In Archaeology of ancient Mexico and Central America: An encyclopedia. essay, Taylor and Francis.
History with Cy. (2020). The Olmecs (Olmec Culture of Ancient Mexico). YouTube. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://youtu.be/DTqgksmmAuY.
R, J. (2020, October 30). Olmec civilization: Their rise, culture and decline. Historic Mysteries. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.historicmysteries.com/olmec-civilization/.
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