The Ultimate Tradtions

Olmec Head
Adalberto Rios Szalay, The Olmec Capital of La Venta

Today I learned about the history of La Venta and its impact on the surrounding area as well as the Lost Kingdoms of Central America. La Venta, known as, "one of the most important cities of the Olmec civilization, and one of the clearest examples of complex societies in Middle America during the first millennium before the common era" (Gonzalez Lauck 92) shows the surrounding environment playing a big role in the safekeeping of the artifacts. The Lost Kingdoms video talks about the, "Olmec rulers making their mark in a striking way" (Lost 11:10-11:14) and how their creations still stood the test of time today.

The similarities seen between the two sources are the description of the Olmec heads. In the video,

Great Pyramid
Alfonso Bouchot, La Venta

the heads are described as possibly, "the actual faces of the Olmec Elite" (Lost 12:14-12:16). The article also describes the heads found in La Venta sounding very similar to the ones described in the museum and have been crafted with the same stone tools. The differences in the two articles would be the different pictures and images created. The video describes the Olmecs carving into the side of a cave and creating an image or text there, while the article describes the use of, "local clays and sands"(Gonzalez Lauck 92) to help.

I already knew about these big Olmec heads hidden throughout Central America from our previous lessons. Knowing just how many different, "stone working tools and grinding implements" (Gonzalez Lauck 92) really shows just how talented they were when creating these heads. What I didn't know about was the massive offerings that the Olmecs made. Hearing about the, "most extravagant ritual offerings" (Lost 34:49-34:52) using serpentine rock and other precious stones was quite the shock for how big of a ritual offering they were doing. The Olmecs were just very dedicated to their beliefs to the point they dug up giant holes to make offerings to Mother Earth.

Works Cited

“BBC.Lost.Kingdoms.Of.Central.America.1of4.Kingdom.Of.The.Jaguar.The.Olmecs.2014.58Min.” Youtube, FiveDigitCreature, 29 June 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTuab0SNuPA&t=326s. 

Diel, Richard. “La Venta.” Metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vent/hd_vent.htm.

Gonzalez Lauck, Rebecca. La Venta. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia.

Hirst, K. Kris. “What Science Has Learned about Olmec Beginnings at La Venta.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 27 Oct. 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/olmec-capital-of-la-venta-173153.