Olmec Beginnings

People have wondered about the origin of the Olmecs since Jose Melgar (1869) first speculated on the "Ethiopian" appearance of the "colossal head of Hueyapan." The question of Olmec origins is really three questions: where did the Olmec people originate; how and where did the distinctive Olmec art style crystallize; and how did the complex institutions of Olmec society arise? In the beginning days of Olmec archaeology, researchers favoring a late date for Olmec culture argued it derived from the Maya. After radiocarbon dating proved La Venta predated Classic Maya civilization, Olmec culture still seemed as if it had sprung fully developed from the Tabasco swamps. This (apparently) sudden appearance gave rise to speculation that the Olmecs migrated from a yet earlier homeland (e.g., Covarrubias 1957: 76, 101; Pina Chan 1955; 106-107). The eminent archaeologist Gordon Ekholm (1964) went so far as to suggest that elements of the Olmec art style might have originated in Bronze Age China. Even after excavations at San Lorenzo pushed back the origins of the Olmec art style and revealed yet earlier cultural phases, a perceived discontinuity in the ceramic sequence (Coc and Diehl 1980a: 150) kept alive the idea of a homeland outside the Gulf Coast (e.g., Gay 1973; Wicke 1971: 161-162; Graham 1989). Ibday, however, evidence accumulating in Olman is documenting the in situ development of Olmec cultural practices and social institutions, without discounting the possibility of external influences over the course ot Olmec history.

The ultimate origins of the Olmec people lie among those bands of hunter-gatherers who entered North America from Asia during the last Ice Age of the Pleistocene epoch. The date of the first entry of humans into the area that would become Mesoarnerica is unknown, but chronoinetric ages of greater than 20,000 years have been reported for materials associated with artifacts at Tlapacoya, Mexico, and Cualapan Pucbla. Even earlier dates of more than 30,000 years ago are reported for an occupation at HI Cedral, San Luis Potosi, and a for a human skeleton from Chimalhuacan, Mexico {Mirambeil 2000; Pompa y Padilla and Serrano 2001). Though still controversial, the early dates of these "Archaeolithic" sites now seem more reasonable in light of Tom Dillehay s (1989) demonstration that humans had reached southern Chile as of 13,000 years ago.

Questionnaire:

• Explain about the Olmecs beginnings.