6th+hour+Olmecs+(Mesoamerica)

=__//Olmec Society//__= __**//Introduction//**__ In Central America there was a civilization between 1200 and 400 B.C called the Olmecs. The Olmecs land was west of the Yucatan Peninsula in the states of Tabasco and Veracurz. The Olmecs were originally a simple society in which hunting and fishing was the main livelihood. Over time they evolved into a complicated and advanced civilization that created many great buildings, art, and public works. The Olmecs ideals fathered part of another great empire, the Mayan's.

__**//Writing/Record keeping//**__ Olmecs had a complex writing system that is the oldest in the new world. The writing reads left to right, unlike other ancient civilizations. It is unlike many of the civilization around it, and its meanings are yet to be discovered. They used a system of symbols to represent words unlike our letters. Only a few items with Olmec writing on them have been found, and a very few actual writing blocks. The blocks date to about 900 B.C., when the Olmec were at the height of their power. The symbols on the blocks include animals, fish, bug and tools, but corn is one of the most used symbols. The Olmecs main crop was corn, so this is not surprising. What is surprising though, is that Olmec writing seems to have African origins. Whatever the reasons for the similarities are between the Africans and the Olmecs, they are truly amazing.

Central Government

The Olmecs had one of the oldest state governments that we know of, created about 1200 B.C. The Olmec rulers had a lot of power over their people. They even got their people to build temples and government buildings. The Olmec government was on good terms with the neighboring nations and made the Olmecs into a trading community. After the first capital city Tenochtitlan was abandoned for unknown reasons, the Olmecs moved to present day Le Venta about 900 B.C. The Olmec government continued on for another 500 years, but after 400 B.C they began to slip. Having built the legacy for ancient Mesoamerican empires, the Olmec slowly lost control and gave way to the Mayan's and the Zapotec.

__//**Religion**//__ Rich tombs and temples tell us that the Olmecs had a powerful class of preists and aristocats. They did not build real cities, but they built ceremonial centers built of pyramid shaped temples and other kinds of buildings. People from near by villages came to wrok on the temples or attend religious ceremonies. The Olmecs most important legacy is the tradition of priestly leadership and religious devotion. Olmec religious activities were performed by different rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers were the most important religious figures. __//**Public Works**//__ The Olmecs were a very successful civilization. They have many inventions that helped the whole society, along with many later civilizations. One of the first things the Olmecs created to help each other was the Olmec writing system. It is dated to about 900 B.C., and it is thought to be one of the very first examples of writing in the Americas. They created many things to connect with one another and one example is what is known as, La Venta. It had large carvings and it had a plaza where everyone could come together. The Olmecs added to their advancements by creating a very large trade network. Their culture spread to places like the Valley of Mexico and Central America between 1100 and 800 B.C. this made them a very successful civilization. The Olmecs created brand new things that civilizations for years to come used to contribute to their own civilizations. Olmec head sculpture //**__Social Classes __**// The social classes of the Olmecs evolved as the Olmecs became a more successful civilization. People started out as equals, but as the civilization became more complex, people got specialized jobs. They started becoming more important than one another. People like farmers and laborers were at the bottom, while the leaders and priests were at the top. The top people had much bigger more decorated homes, while the farmers had very small, simple homes. The Olmecs are thought to have honored their rulers by painting huge portraits of them, while lower- class people did not. The Olmecs didn’t always have social classes, but by the end of their civilization they had very distinct social class levels. 



Olmec area and La Venta **__ Job Specialization __** The olmecs specialized in jobs such as, fishing, hunting, collecting, and agriculture. The land was good and fertile, but sometimes there were floods. Uplift sometimes dried out land that had formerly remained fertile from regular flooding. The city's strategic location on higher land surrounded by navigable rivers that were good for transportation and encouraged San Lorenzo's growth into a major Olmec city. // Olmec Farmland // __** Cites **__ The Olmec established colonies and cities in trade areas. It was an expansion to their civilization and growth. Olmec rulers had a desire for things such as Obsidian, Jade, and Cacao (chocolate), which are not found in the Olmec region. The technological advances of the Olmec of irrigating crops and domesticating plants allows the areas to produce more food to support their population growth. //Olmec ceremonial architecture// The Olmec society was the first of many great Mesoamerican empires. The grew into a great empire and trading nation, and it attributed to the growth of the area. Even though the sun set on them, their great works still remain. We can learn a lot from the Olmec empire. They were the classic example of a nation with cities, job specialization, organized religions, art and archtexture, public works, social classes, central government and laws, and writing and record keeping.
 * //__Conclusion__//**

__**//Works Cited//**__ [] [] [] [][] [] (my computer would not allow me to use the churchill databases) " **Olmec** ." //Encyclopædia Britannica//. //Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition//. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 17 Sept. 2010 < [] >. [] [] [] [] [] [] Reported by Andrea Dorfman/New York and Paul Sherman/Mexico City ﻿[|www.mnsu.edu] ﻿[|www.johndenugent.com]