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[Music]
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in 1939 Mathew sterling had just arrived
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in Veracruz Mexico for a new season of
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excavations at the site of tres Capote
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ace sterling was searching for answers
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about a relatively recently identified
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civilization in Mexico the Olmec tre
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Capote days had already been identified
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as an Olmec site but at the time not
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much was known about Olmec civilization
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there was only a delicate consensus
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about who the Olmec were most scholars
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assume that this civilization was a
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fairly recent player in Mesoamerican
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history and that they would have been
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contemporary with the classical Maya in
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the second half of the first millennium
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CE II
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it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion at
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the time remember this was before carbon
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dating was being used in archaeology and
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back then the best way to date
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Mesoamerican civilizations was by
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stratigraphy or even better by
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cataloging the dates on their monument
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inscriptions Stirling however suspected
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that this civilization was much older
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unfortunately for Sterling he had no
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hard proof to back up his theories that
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is until one day when he chanced upon an
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incredible discovery
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a broken Olmec Stila with a partial date
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inscription although the second half the
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date inscription was missing he and his
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wife Marian deduced that the date on the
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Stila was September 3rd 32 BCE by far
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the oldest written date ever recorded in
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Mesoamerica when this was published it
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was hailed as a great oh wait actually
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no it was immediately derided by their
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colleagues as the incredulous result of
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over enthusiastic speculation everyone
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insisted that the Olmec civilization
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could not have been that old bummer but
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not for long as luck would have it the
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sterlings would be vindicated in the
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ensuing decades by carbon dating and
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later by the discovery of the rest of
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the Stila by a local farmer which
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allowed archeologists to verify the
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sterlings proposed date they had been
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right all along
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this discovery stunned the academic
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world it proved the true antiquity of
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the Olmec and showed that they were the
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first major civilization in Mesoamerica
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last episode we examine the Norte Chico
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one of the first civilizations of the
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Americas
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in it we discussed how the Peruvian
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coast was a cradle of American
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civilization and how those pre ceramics
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civilizations laid important foundations
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for later andean cultures but Peru was
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not the only cradle in the Americas in
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Mesoamerica there was another one on the
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Mexican coast so just like we did in our
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last episode let's examine the origins
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of Mesoamerican civilization by
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exploring its first great civilization
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the Olmec many aspects of Mesoamerican
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culture such as calendars ball games and
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the Mesoamerican pantheon can be traced
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back to Olmec influences and these
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influences were tremendous before we can
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discuss the Maya the zapotec the Toltecs
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and the Aztecs we need to examine the
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Olmec and their contributions to
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Mesoamerican civilization unfortunately
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the Olmec left us no discernible written
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histories nor any oral traditions all
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that is known about the Olmec comes to
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us from archeology or from the study of
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subsequent cultures as much as we know
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about the Olmec we are clueless about
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some basic facts like the language they
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spoke or what they called themselves in
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fact the name Olmec comes from the word
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almond a Nahuatl word meaning rubber
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people rubber was produced by the
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region's inhabitants as far back as
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Olmec times all the way until European
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contact hence the name just keep in mind
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that Olmec is the name retro actively
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applied to them by modern scholars it's
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not a name that they would have used
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themselves before Olmec civilization
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arose the people of Mesoamerica had only
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recently begun living a sedentary
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lifestyle
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what made this shift possible was the
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domestication of crops like gourds
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squash beans avocados and chilies but
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above all corn or as we ought to refer
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to it maze maze was first domesticated
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in Mexico between 7000 BCE and 6500 BCE
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and it would change everything as it was
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cultivated more and more intensively so
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important was maize to the Mesoamericans
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that most cultures had a maize deity in
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some form on an interesting
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I know maze was originally domesticated
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from the teosinte plant it's a testament
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to their agricultural prowess that this
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tiny grass was fashioned into one of the
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most important staple crops in the world
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I mean just look how tiny those cobs are
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if you aren't very impressed by maize
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I'd also like to point out that the
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Olmec were the first civilization to
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have chocolate so let's take a moment to
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thank the Olmecs for helping bestow
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chocolate on this cruel world and then
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let's get back to our topic
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by the beginning of the second
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millennium BCE civilization was
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beginning to take shape what's
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fascinating about the development of
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Mesoamerican civilization is that it
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occurred very late compared to other
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early civilizations but when it did it
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blossomed with astonishing speed
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archaeologist Brian Fagan sums this up
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excellently a vast chasm separates the
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thousands of farming villages scattered
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throughout Central America in 2000 BC
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and the sophisticated civilizations that
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arose with dramatic suddenness only
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fifteen hundred years later nothing
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epitomizes that drastic change better
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than the rise of the Olmec for over a
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thousand years from 1700 BCE to the end
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of the first millennium BCE the Olmec
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were a cultural juggernaut in
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Mesoamerica despite being largely
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confined to the Mexican Gulf Coast in
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the modern states of Veracruz and
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Tabasco the Olmec exercised an oversized
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influence over Central America unlike
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their contemporaries the Olmec were
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living in large planned urban
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settlements with elite residences
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workshops and rich elaborate tombs the
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best-known of these sites is the city of
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La Venta which thrived from 900 BCE to
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400 BCE La Venta has a planned layout
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with many temple mounds surrounding a
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main plaza the main feature of the site
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is its Great Pyramid it's been badly
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eroded in the millennia since its
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construction but surveys and excavations
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show that it was a large rectangular
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pyramid with stepped sides much like
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later pyramids in Mesoamerica
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these are all features that we're gonna
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see later in Mesoamerican cities
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this wasn't just a city of corn farmers
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although there were a lot of those it
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was an economic and cultural hub home to
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merchants artists sculptors priests and
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a ruling elite levente is not an
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isolated example other Olmec cities have
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their own monuments the fact that the
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Olmec Alika commissioned such huge
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public works speaks to the
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sophistication of Olmec society but what
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exactly were they commissioning well I'm
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glad you asked let's take a look at
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Olmec art to find out nothing highlights
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the Olmec better than their distinctive
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and recognizable art their most iconic
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and well-known works are by far their
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colossal heads even if you've never
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studied the Olmec you've probably seen
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pictures of them in a textbook or on TV
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these heads are gigantic each one is
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carved from a huge block of basalt the
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nearest source of this is all the way in
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the two Shilla mountains which means
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that they had to not only be carved but
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moved huge distances remember there are
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no draft animals in Mesoamerica you
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can't just strap some oxen and mules to
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those boulders and tell them to move
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they could only be moved by human labor
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the organization an effort to move these
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from quarries to the cities and
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ceremonial centers must have been
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enormous as far as we know they could
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have been dragged overland or perhaps
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transported on balsa rafts via the local
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rivers but no one is certain but what
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are these sculptures exactly most
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scholars agree that these heads
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represent Olmec rulers as each one is
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distinct and no to portray the same
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person each head has a helmet or
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headgear the heads are very recognizable
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for their realism and their broad facial
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features like their flat noses and full
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lips these striking features have
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actually caused some to theorize that
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the heads are sculptures of Africans but
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these theories are rejected by
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Mesoamerican scholars and I'll have more
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to say about these views later in total
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there are 17 heads that have been
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discovered at various Olmecs sites these
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range in size from just under 5 feet to
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11 feet tall the largest head is over 25
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hons to put that in perspective that's
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more than the weight of two school buses
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one interesting thing I discovered while
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making this episode is that there are
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actually several replicas Olmec heads
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across the United States if you ever pay
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a visit to the Field Museum in Chicago
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City College of San Francisco laymen
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college at the city of New York the
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Smithsonian or the University of Texas
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in Austin you can see one of these
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replicas pretty cool as impressive as
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the Olmec heads are they were not the
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only colossal sculpture crafted by the
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Olmec they also carved massive stone
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altars each from a single block of
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basalt weighing over 40 tons
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actually the term altar is a bit of a
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misnomer when these were first excavated
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they were believed to be altars but
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experts are pretty certain that these
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huge blocks were actually Thrones for
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rulers the reason for this is that
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there's actually images and sculptures
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of rulers sitting on these altars each
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throne contains a niche with a man
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sitting in a cave either holding a baby
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with Jaguar features or a rope sometimes
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both in many later Mesoamerican cultures
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caves are an entrance to the
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supernatural world so this imagery is
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very evocative
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remember this because caves are gonna
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come up later in the episode as these
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monuments show the Olmec were masters at
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shaping stone and these monuments are
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only the tip of the iceberg one of the
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finest examples of Olmec sculpture is
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the wrestler this seated figure is
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portrayed in a realistic and dynamic way
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that is seldom seen in Mesoamerica
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another important piece comes from a
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burial in La Venta this group of small
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Jade figurines were found posed around a
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central figure in a very striking scene
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no one is certain what this is depicting
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but it definitely fires up the
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imagination is this a scene from Olmec
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mythology a rulers court or a scene from
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the deceased life we don't know but it
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is pretty cool to think about Olmec art
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is one of the best tools we have in
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reconstructing their religion and their
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beliefs when we examine Olmec art with a
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knowledge of later cultures we can see
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important
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religious concepts taking shape remember
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those babies from the Thrones we just
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talked about let's take a closer look at
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those babies abound an Olmec guard
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usually on the chubby side many of these
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babies just as the ones on the Thrones
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have Jaguar features this is a very
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common theme in Olmec art and scholars
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call these babies where Jaguars like
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werewolves but instead a where Jaguar
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these depict people that are in the
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process of transforming into Jaguars
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they have snarling fanged mouths
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upturned lips and sometimes even claws
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these images are not just limited to
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children there are also examples of
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adult transformations as well as
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transformations into other animals like
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birds sharks and crocodiles but where
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Jaguars are the most common they appear
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in ritual axes carved from green stone
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and other materials where Jaguars
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occupied an important place in Olmec
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religion and it's believed that some of
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these where Jaguars are shamans in a
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state of transformation shamanism was an
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important element in Olmec and later
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Mesoamerican religions they are not
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unique to Mesoamerican culture you can
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find shamans in many parts of the world
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even today shamans interact with the
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spiritual world by taking hallucinogens
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to enter an altered state of
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consciousness in this state Olmec
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shamans could transform into animal
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spirits and enter the supernatural world
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and through it influence the real world
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a shaman might want to influence the
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growth of crops or the coming of rain to
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sustain his people shamans were very
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important people in the Olmec community
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and it's no wonder that we find so much
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representation of them in their art
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however some of these where Jaguars also
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show us a picture of proto deities that
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will appear in later Mesoamerican
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religions one piece that exemplifies
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this is the laulima figure the
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sculptures of a man holding yet another
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we're Jaguar baby but what makes it
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significant are the inscriptions carved
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into the man's body it's very hard to
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see in this picture but there are four
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icons carved into his shoulders and
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knees scholars have pointed out that
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these icons have distinct features later
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associate
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with Mesoamerican deities these features
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are very diagnostic and we can use them
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to identify specific later deities for
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example on his right shoulder
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we have sheep a Totec the god of spring
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and regeneration he's also known as the
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flayed God on the left we have what is
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believed to be the fire God or the fire
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serpent as he's also known on the left
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knee we have the god of death on the
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right knee is the feathered serpent
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known more commonly by its Aztec name
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Quetzalcoatl and by the Maya as Kukulcan
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he's gonna be a big figure in later
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Mesoamerican religion the cradled infant
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has been identified as the maize God due
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to the decorated band above his head
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here's another image of a where Jaguar
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maize God these are some of the earliest
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images we have of the Mesoamerican
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Pantheon these show that important
00:14:33
deities had their origin among the Olmec
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but gods aren't the only elements of
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Mesoamerican mythology depicted in Olmec
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art at the Olmec site of el azul
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archaeologists unearthed two statues of
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identical twins for anyone familiar with
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the Maya creation story the Popol Vuh
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these identical twins should be ringing
00:14:53
a bell these are believed to be the hero
00:14:56
twins from the story twins feature very
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prominently in the heroic literature and
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art of Mesoamerica but this is one of
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the earliest examples we have of a
00:15:06
depiction of twins again when we talk
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about Mesoamerican mythology in later
00:15:10
episodes think back to the Olmec and
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think back to this sculpture one final
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religious practice that appears to have
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its origin in Olmec culture is
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bloodletting an intact tomb at La Venta
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contains a stingray spine and other
00:15:23
instruments that many scholars believe
00:15:25
were used to draw blood
00:15:28
bloodletting or auto sacrifices it's
00:15:30
also called played an important role in
00:15:32
later Mesoamerican religions by offering
00:15:36
up their blood rulers and priests could
00:15:38
ritually contact their revered ancestors
00:15:41
and ask for their intercession in the
00:15:43
spiritual world this was a vital element
00:15:46
of kingship during the later Classical
00:15:48
period and we're going to see it come up
00:15:49
again
00:15:51
religion and art were not the only
00:15:53
legacy of Olmec culture perhaps one of
00:15:55
the greatest Olmec achievements was
00:15:57
their use of the Mesoamerican calendar
00:15:59
and the Long Count there's a lot of
00:16:02
debate over the exact source of the
00:16:04
Mesoamerican calendar but the Olmec
00:16:06
played a huge role in spreading it
00:16:08
across Mesoamerica if you want to learn
00:16:10
more about the calendar and its
00:16:12
significance you're and look because
00:16:13
we've already covered that in a previous
00:16:15
episode but I'll just hit the highlights
00:16:17
here the calendar was a universal
00:16:20
feature of nearly all Mesoamerican
00:16:22
cultures and it underpinned all
00:16:24
ceremonial and religious life we see
00:16:27
this calendar used by the Maya
00:16:28
the Miche tech the Aztecs the Zapotecs
00:16:31
and others to say it was widespread and
00:16:33
successful is an understatement not only
00:16:38
that the Olmec also had a written
00:16:39
numerical system with which they could
00:16:41
write dates we open this episode with
00:16:44
one such example
00:16:46
this allowed the Olmecs to do something
00:16:48
no one else could do to record their
00:16:50
history in writing now the ability to
00:16:54
write numbers poses another important
00:16:56
question usually when counting is being
00:16:59
recorded writing usually follows did the
00:17:02
Olmecs follow this progression to
00:17:04
writing and spread to other areas of
00:17:06
Mesoamerica no that's a question fraught
00:17:09
with a lot of debate you see writing
00:17:11
pops up in the late formative period in
00:17:14
multiple places the Olmec Heartland the
00:17:16
Valley of Oaxaca and the Maya Highlands
00:17:18
but a common ancestors of these scripts
00:17:21
is elusive and there's very little
00:17:23
consensus over who came first who
00:17:26
influenced the other it's very much open
00:17:29
for debate during this time Olmec
00:17:32
writing was abundant the eppie Olmec
00:17:35
were writing elaborate monumental
00:17:37
inscriptions the best example is the
00:17:40
Lama Hara Stila from the trace of
00:17:42
Potter's area this enormous basalt Stila
00:17:45
shows a figure most likely a ruler next
00:17:47
to a lengthy inscription we can tell
00:17:50
from the date inscription on the Stila
00:17:51
that it's from the end of the late
00:17:52
formative period
00:17:54
unfortunately the script remains
00:17:56
undeciphered and all attempts to
00:17:58
decipher it have been unsuccessful but
00:18:02
as cool as that is we need to dig deeper
00:18:04
to find
00:18:04
the earliest Olmec writing if you want
00:18:07
to go back as far as possible to witness
00:18:09
the purported origins of writing you'll
00:18:12
arrive at the alcohol block that was
00:18:14
found near the Olmec city of San Lorenzo
00:18:16
it features several rows of higher
00:18:18
glyphs although the nature of these
00:18:20
glyphs is disputed by some scholars this
00:18:23
block dates from about 1000 and 900 BCE
00:18:26
but the higher glyphs do not resemble
00:18:28
any other Mesoamerican script could this
00:18:31
be a proto script or possibly a dead-end
00:18:34
it's hard to say but the most compelling
00:18:37
artifacts come later from the La Venta
00:18:40
area the first we will examine is a
00:18:42
cylinder seal found in 2002 that dates
00:18:45
to approximately 650 BCE
00:18:48
what makes this seal so interesting is
00:18:50
that it contains a bird with a speech
00:18:52
scroll coming from its mouth that ends
00:18:54
in to higher glyphs just like a
00:18:56
character in a comic strip these two
00:18:59
hieroglyphs are similar to those of
00:19:01
later Mayan and Isthmian writing green
00:19:04
stone fragments from the site show
00:19:06
glyphs with similarities to other
00:19:07
scripts as well an Olmec statue found in
00:19:10
leblanc on the pacific coast
00:19:12
far away from the Olmec heartland shows
00:19:14
similar higher glyphs as well with this
00:19:17
in mind some scholars believe that
00:19:19
there's an argument to be made that
00:19:20
writing first originated in the Olmec
00:19:23
heartland and then was dispersed
00:19:24
throughout Mesoamerica it should be
00:19:27
noted once again that these claims are a
00:19:29
bit controversial and the matter is not
00:19:32
settled any day now a new discovery
00:19:35
could easily change how we see the
00:19:37
origins of Mesoamerican writing what is
00:19:39
clear is that the Olmec were early
00:19:42
adopters of writing and helped spread
00:19:43
literacy throughout Central America
00:19:47
another cultural legacy of the Olmec is
00:19:50
the Mesoamerican ballgame the ballgame
00:19:52
was a huge fixture in Mesoamerica ball
00:19:56
courts were a regular feature in urban
00:19:58
design all over Mesoamerica and even
00:20:00
beyond if you've ever seen the ruins of
00:20:03
a Mesoamerican city you've probably seen
00:20:05
the remains of a ball court they're very
00:20:07
distinct with their eye shape their
00:20:08
walls and the alleyway between them this
00:20:12
picture here comes from the ball court
00:20:14
at the zapotec capital of monte albán
00:20:16
the ball game was not just
00:20:18
sport to pass the time it was an
00:20:20
important religious ritual that
00:20:22
recreated mythology and brought
00:20:24
communities together a ball game
00:20:26
symbolized the battle between good and
00:20:28
evil and life and death and usually
00:20:31
culminated in the sacrifice of losing
00:20:33
captain or maybe even the losing team
00:20:35
like the calendar it's possible that the
00:20:38
ball game may have origins outside the
00:20:40
Olmec heartland no Olmec site has ever
00:20:43
yielded a ball court the oldest known
00:20:46
ball court actually comes from the
00:20:48
distant Sokka new schoo region however
00:20:51
at the Olmec site of El manatee rubber
00:20:53
balls have been found dating back to
00:20:55
1500 BC and these are the earliest ever
00:20:58
found these solid rubber balls were made
00:21:01
by tapping rubber trees and fashioning
00:21:03
the rubber into balls for the game this
00:21:06
is good evidence that the game was being
00:21:07
played by the Olmec from a very early
00:21:09
time even if they weren't incorporating
00:21:11
formal ball courts into their urban
00:21:13
architecture or perhaps they were and
00:21:16
archaeology has yet to find them either
00:21:18
way the Olmec were among the earliest
00:21:20
cultures playing the ball game in
00:21:22
Mesoamerica
00:21:24
so how do we know that these ideas were
00:21:26
spread so thoroughly throughout
00:21:28
Mesoamerica you might think it's because
00:21:31
we see so many firsts among the Olmec
00:21:33
but the real reason is much more
00:21:35
interesting it's because Olmec artifacts
00:21:38
and sites can be found all over
00:21:40
Mesoamerica the Olmec were not
00:21:43
isolationists they expanded and traded
00:21:46
with their contemporaries all across
00:21:48
Central America
00:21:49
the Olmecs were producing rubber cacao
00:21:52
salt and manufactured goods like fine
00:21:54
pottery
00:21:55
the items they appeared to be trading
00:21:58
for were Jade and serpentine for
00:21:59
crafting obsidian for weapons and tools
00:22:02
and iron ore for mirrors and this
00:22:05
contact wasn't incidental there's a lot
00:22:07
of evidence for intense Olmec contact
00:22:10
outside the heartland a great example of
00:22:13
this is the sight of chalk at Cinco in
00:22:15
the valley of Morelos that sheer
00:22:17
mountain you see in the picture has long
00:22:19
been considered sacred by indigenous
00:22:21
peoples and the Olmec may have
00:22:23
considered this a sacred site as well
00:22:25
between 700 and 500 BCE the Olmec had a
00:22:29
strong presence there and left
00:22:31
spectacular bass relief carvings into
00:22:33
the rock cliffs the location of Chao
00:22:36
could sing go also lies about halfway
00:22:37
between the heartland and the mountain
00:22:39
sources of obsidian it would have
00:22:42
behaved the Olmec to ensure that Chao
00:22:43
could sing go was on friendly terms
00:22:46
another site Te'o pantech wanted lon all
00:22:51
the way in the modern state of Guerrero
00:22:53
has a ceremonial sunken court flanked
00:22:56
with an Olmec style where Jaguar
00:22:58
depiction of the maize God Guerrero was
00:23:01
an important trading partner with the
00:23:02
Olmec because it was a source of high
00:23:04
quality Jade so all my presence here
00:23:07
shouldn't be that much of a surprise
00:23:09
elsewhere in Guerrero the Juche to
00:23:11
oaxaca cave features an extraordinary
00:23:13
cave painting of a figure holding a
00:23:15
captive bound by a rope other nearby
00:23:18
caves show Jaguars and even the
00:23:20
feathered serpent remember the Thrones
00:23:22
we discussed earlier replete with cave
00:23:24
imagery these caves likely held a
00:23:26
spiritual significance and the art there
00:23:28
is not a coincidence
00:23:30
other Olmec or Olmec influenced sites
00:23:32
can be found in Chiapas the southern
00:23:34
Guatemalan coast and even as far as El
00:23:36
Salvador
00:23:38
now all the specs the question what was
00:23:40
the nature of this contact are these
00:23:43
sites evidence of a peaceful trading
00:23:44
network or a violent entrada there's no
00:23:48
doubt that the Olmec had a warrior
00:23:49
tradition violence pops up in Olmec art
00:23:52
several times but Olmec artifacts could
00:23:55
just as easily be the result of trade
00:23:57
items brought back from the Olmec
00:23:59
heartland
00:23:59
nobody really knows but there's a lot of
00:24:02
debate on the topic and the real answer
00:24:04
could easily be a combination of both
00:24:06
what's important about this and what I
00:24:08
want you to take away from it is the
00:24:10
sheer extent of Olmec contact within
00:24:13
Mesoamerica with this contact came the
00:24:16
cultural and religious trappings that
00:24:18
we've been discussing dr. Michael Koh
00:24:20
summarizes this very well where they did
00:24:24
not go or where their influence was
00:24:27
unfelt civilized life never took hold
00:24:30
not even in the two-and-a-half millennia
00:24:33
that elapsed between them and the
00:24:35
Spanish conquest beyond the frontier of
00:24:38
the Olmec realm were the barbarians the
00:24:41
people without calendar writing and
00:24:43
science without great art without States
00:24:47
and civilized centers
00:24:52
now before we wrap up this video we need
00:24:55
to discuss one last thing that everybody
00:24:58
loves conspiracy theories as mezzo
00:25:02
america's oldest civilization the Olmec
00:25:04
are at the center of many colorful shall
00:25:07
we say alternate theories there are
00:25:11
scholars who have suggested that Olmec
00:25:13
achievements and art were the result of
00:25:14
an outside influence most commonly from
00:25:17
Africa but you can also read about
00:25:19
influences from China and Europe as well
00:25:21
some people most prominently among them
00:25:24
ivan van Sertoma
00:25:25
have suggested that the Olmec colossal
00:25:27
heads have African ethnic
00:25:29
characteristics specifically those broad
00:25:31
noses and full lips and thus it's proof
00:25:34
of an ancient African contact with
00:25:36
Mesoamerica among the many other points
00:25:40
are that Mesoamerican pyramids are
00:25:41
derived from the pyramids of Egypt and
00:25:43
Nubia I've read several of these and I
00:25:46
can assure you that they are painful to
00:25:49
read all Mesoamerican scholars that I've
00:25:52
read agree that there is no
00:25:53
substantiating evidence to these claims
00:25:56
experts point out that these African
00:25:58
features on the colossal heads are also
00:26:00
shared by the indigenous people of the
00:26:02
Veracruz region they also point out that
00:26:04
Mesoamerican pyramids have a
00:26:06
well-documented evolution in history one
00:26:09
that is very distinct from the Pyramids
00:26:11
of Egypt I also have not seen a shred of
00:26:14
genetic or linguistic evidence to back
00:26:16
these theories on a lighter note I would
00:26:19
also like to add a personal observation
00:26:21
that if any African or Asian
00:26:23
civilization made contact with the Olmec
00:26:25
how on earth did they arrive in the only
00:26:27
chocolate producing region of the world
00:26:29
and not bring chocolate back to the old
00:26:32
world
00:26:32
talk about a miss but back to business
00:26:37
this kind of speculation is part of a
00:26:38
much larger trend there are lots of
00:26:41
other conspiracy theories and pseudo
00:26:43
scientific literature that'll tell you
00:26:45
that some Native American achievement
00:26:47
was the result of European African or
00:26:49
Asian influence these claims are at best
00:26:53
the result of poor research and hurried
00:26:55
speculation and at worst deliberate
00:26:58
attempts to usurp Native American
00:26:59
achievement such theories have very
00:27:02
little merit and should not be taken
00:27:04
seriously arguing that old world
00:27:06
inhabitants may have washed up in
00:27:08
America or may have had a single episode
00:27:10
of contact is one thing but arguing that
00:27:13
there was a sustained transoceanic
00:27:15
contact with the Olmec or any other
00:27:18
American civilization is baseless
00:27:20
speculation fringe theories aside the
00:27:23
Olmec were an extremely successful
00:27:25
civilization and left a huge impression
00:27:28
on Mesoamerica Olmec style are can be
00:27:32
found everywhere not only was it
00:27:34
prolific it was extremely long-lived
00:27:37
Olmec culture lasted over a thousand
00:27:40
years but began to finally decline with
00:27:42
the abandonment of La Venta in 400 BCE
00:27:45
some later Olmec sites most notably tre
00:27:48
sapote soldiered on for a few more
00:27:51
centuries before Olmec culture slowly
00:27:53
faded away replaced by newer
00:27:55
civilizations who were now heirs to a
00:27:58
towering legacy I hope I've made it
00:28:00
clear just how pivotal the Olmec were in
00:28:03
spreading the use of the Mesoamerican
00:28:04
calendar religion the ballgame and urban
00:28:08
design as the Olmec went so did most of
00:28:11
Mesoamerica when we cover later topics
00:28:14
in Mesoamerica you'll hear the Olmecs
00:28:15
popping up again and again and you'll
00:28:17
get a real appreciation for their legacy
00:28:20
and with that I hope you've appreciated
00:28:22
this episode on what many consider to be
00:28:25
the mother culture of Mesoamerica thank
00:28:28
you for watching and don't forget to
00:28:29
Like and subscribe for more ancient
00:28:31
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00:28:35
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