Olmecs of Mesoamerica By Noah Fried George Gavales

Olmecs of Mesoamerica By Noah Fried, George Gavales, Bryce Veach and Drew Dickson

Economy • Economy based on hunting, farming, and fishing. • Early hunters used advanced weapons made from iron • Early farmers used tools made from stone and iron • Early fishermen had nets and boats • Money was barter, trade

Trade • The Olmecs were known to have traded both nationally and internationally • They imported stone and other art supplies • They imported seeds and other natural resources • Bits of their culture were found so far as Central America

Labor • There was specialized labor • There were the average people who hunted, farmed, and fished • There were craftsmen who made weapons and tools • There were scribes who used Zapotec writing • Officials to run the different sections of government were at the top of the list

Inventions • • • The compass The ziggurat The ability to write The concept of zero A form of recreational sport using rubber balls

Religion • There were human sacrifices, some victims were babies • Rulers, priests, and shamans led all religious functions • A or the god of the Olmecs was a feathered serpent • All rulers were in some way related to a god, making them a sort of deity • Shamans were represented by half human half animal figurines

Art • Olmec art is highly stylized and uses an iconography reflective of the religious meaning of the artworks • They used jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone among others • The Wrestler is a good example of this(the slide background)

Caste System • The Olmec civilization was made up of many different classes of men just like today • There were the farmers, artisans, and sculptors on the lower level • Next came the merchants and warriors and finally the specialists • Above them was a group of high authority which researchers do not know very much about but were referred to as elites

Government • Highest level of the caste system • Religion was very much involved • Advisors and sometimes leaders include, but are not limited to: magician-priests, observers of the stars, skillful manipulators of their hematite mirrors, worshipers of the jaguar-baby, and city planners and architects • A military theocracy undoubtedly was the characteristic form of the great majority of Mesoamerican states • Elites were separated from the common people This was one of the first cultures to do this.

Military • There is no record of a military • The weapons that could have been used were either destroyed or nonexistent • They only recorded weapon of the Olmecs is a paddle shaped club • Because of the size of the empire they must have had a military • It seems that the stereotypical bow and arrow was not used unless they were destroyed

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