Olmec mythology
Encyclopedia
The religion of the Olmec
people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica
. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernaturals in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian
Mesoamerican cultures.
The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec, developed on present-day Mexico's southern Gulf Coast in the centuries before 1200 BCE
. The culture lasted until roughly 400 BCE, at which time their center of La Venta
lay abandoned. The Olmec culture is often considered a "mother culture" to later Mesoamerican cultures.
There is no surviving direct account of the Olmec's religious beliefs, unlike the Maya
, with their Popul Vuh, or the Aztecs, with their many codices
and conquistador
accounts.
Archaeologists, therefore, have had to rely on other techniques to reconstruct Olmec beliefs, most prominently:
The latter two techniques assume that there is a continuity extending from Olmec times through later Mesoamerican cultures to the present day. This assumption is called the Continuity Hypothesis. Using these techniques, researchers have discerned several separate deities or supernaturals embodying the characteristics of various animals.
The names and identities of these supernaturals are only provisional and the details concerning many of them remain poorly known. The confusion stems in part because the supernaturals are defined as a cluster of icongraphic motifs. Any given motif may appear in multiple supernaturals. For example "flame eyebrows" are seen at times within representations of both the Olmec Dragon and the Bird monster, and the cleft head is seen on all five supernaturals that appear on Las Limas Monument 1
. To add to the confuion, Joralemon suggested that many of these gods had multiple aspects – for example, Joralemon had identified a God I-A through a God I-F.
Despite the use of the term "god", none of these deities and supernaturals show any sexual characteristics which would indicate gender.
Miller & Taube differentiate a Personified Earth Cave, equating it with Joralmon's God I-B.
from Veracruz shows a representation of God II, or the Maize God, growing corn from his cleft, and also shows this god with the snarling face associated with the jaguar. This deity is rarely shown with a full body.
In a later paper, Taube proposed that the Rain Spirit was instead the seed phase version of the Maize God.
first appears in Olmec times, although there is some disagreement concerning its importance to the Olmec. The Feathered Serpent appears on La Venta Stele 19 (above) and within a Juxtlahuaca
cave painting (see this Commons photo), locations hundreds of miles apart.
(see Commons drawing).
(as shown on left), although the Banded-eye God is one of the five supernaturals shown on Las Limas Monument 1
from the Olmec heartland
.
Rather than a distinct supernatural in its own right, however, Taube finds God VI to be yet another aspect of the Maize God.
. This proposal was amplified by Miguel Covarrubias
in his 1957 work Indian Art of Mexico and Central America where he famously drew a family tree showing 19 later Mesoamerican rain deities as descendents of a "jaguar masked" deity portrayed on a votive axe. The Continuity Hypothesis has since been generally accepted by scholars, although the extent of Olmec influence on later cultures is still debated.
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernaturals in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Mesoamerican cultures.
The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec, developed on present-day Mexico's southern Gulf Coast in the centuries before 1200 BCE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. The culture lasted until roughly 400 BCE, at which time their center of La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
lay abandoned. The Olmec culture is often considered a "mother culture" to later Mesoamerican cultures.
There is no surviving direct account of the Olmec's religious beliefs, unlike the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, with their Popul Vuh, or the Aztecs, with their many codices
Aztec codices
Aztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
and conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
accounts.
Archaeologists, therefore, have had to rely on other techniques to reconstruct Olmec beliefs, most prominently:
- Typological analysis of Olmec iconography and art.
- Comparison to later, better documented pre-Columbian cultures.
- Comparison to modern-day Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
cultures.
The latter two techniques assume that there is a continuity extending from Olmec times through later Mesoamerican cultures to the present day. This assumption is called the Continuity Hypothesis. Using these techniques, researchers have discerned several separate deities or supernaturals embodying the characteristics of various animals.
Rulers, priests, and shamans
Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important religious figures, with their links to the Olmec deities or supernaturals providing legitimacy for their rule. There is also considerable evidence for shamans in the Olmec archaeological record, particularly in the so-called "transformation figures".Olmec supernaturals
Specifics concerning Olmec religion are a matter of some conjecture. Early researchers found religious beliefs to be centered upon a jaguar god. This view was challenged in the 1970s by Peter David Joralemon, whose Ph. D. paper and subsequent article posited what are now considered to be 8 different supernaturals. Over time Joralemon's viewpoint has become the predominant exposition of the Olmec pantheon. The study of Olmec religion, however, is still in its infancy and any list of Olmec supernaturals or deities can be neither definitive nor comprehensive.The names and identities of these supernaturals are only provisional and the details concerning many of them remain poorly known. The confusion stems in part because the supernaturals are defined as a cluster of icongraphic motifs. Any given motif may appear in multiple supernaturals. For example "flame eyebrows" are seen at times within representations of both the Olmec Dragon and the Bird monster, and the cleft head is seen on all five supernaturals that appear on Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1 is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals and is considered by some a "Rosetta stone" of Olmec religion...
. To add to the confuion, Joralemon suggested that many of these gods had multiple aspects – for example, Joralemon had identified a God I-A through a God I-F.
Despite the use of the term "god", none of these deities and supernaturals show any sexual characteristics which would indicate gender.
Olmec Dragon (God I)
Also known as the Earth Monster, the Olmec Dragon has flame eyebrows, a bulbous nose, and bifurcated tongue. When viewed from the front, the Olmec Dragon has trough-shaped eyes; when viewed in profile, the eyes are L-shaped. Fangs are prominent, often rendered as an upside-down U-shaped bracket. With the Bird Monster, the Olmec Dragon is one of the most commonly depicted supernaturals.Miller & Taube differentiate a Personified Earth Cave, equating it with Joralmon's God I-B.
Maize deity (God II)
Another probable supernatural is identified by the plants sprouting from its cleft head. A carved celtCelt (tool)
Celt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.-Etymology:The term "celt" came about from what was very probably a copyist's error in many medieval manuscript copies of Job 19:24 in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which became...
from Veracruz shows a representation of God II, or the Maize God, growing corn from his cleft, and also shows this god with the snarling face associated with the jaguar. This deity is rarely shown with a full body.
Bird Monster (God III)
The Bird Monster is often identified with the harpy eagle, although it also has mammalian and reptilian features. The bird monster is associated with rulership.Rain Spirit and Were-jaguar (God IV)
There is considerable disagreement between researchers whether the Rain Spirit and were-jaguar are one distinct or two separate supernaturals. Christopher Pool, Anatole Pohorilenko, and Miller & Taube each equate the were-jaguar with the Rain Deity, while Joralemon finds them to be two separate supernaturals. Interestingly enough, Joralemon states that the Olmec rain spirit "is based on were-jaguar features", but is not the were-jaguar per se.In a later paper, Taube proposed that the Rain Spirit was instead the seed phase version of the Maize God.
Feathered Serpent (God VII)
Designated God VII by Joralemon, the feathered (or plumed) serpent depicted throughout MesoamericaMesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
first appears in Olmec times, although there is some disagreement concerning its importance to the Olmec. The Feathered Serpent appears on La Venta Stele 19 (above) and within a Juxtlahuaca
Juxtlahuaca
Juxtlahuaca is a cave and archaeological site in the Mexican state of Guerrero containing murals linked to the Olmec motifs and iconography. Along with the nearby Oxtotitlán cave, Juxtlahuaca walls contain the earliest sophisticated painted art known in Mesoamerica, and only known example of...
cave painting (see this Commons photo), locations hundreds of miles apart.
Fish or Shark Monster (God VIII)
Most often recognized by its shark tooth, the head of the monster also features a crescent-shaped eye, and a small lower jaw. When depicted in its full-body form, such as on San Lorenzo Monument 58 or on the Young Lord figurine, the anthropomorphic Fish Monster also displays crossed bands, a dorsal fin, a split tail. This supernatural's profile is shown on the left leg of Las Limas Monument 1Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1 is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals and is considered by some a "Rosetta stone" of Olmec religion...
(see Commons drawing).
Banded-eye God (God VI)
This enigmatic deity is named for the narrow band that runs along the side of its face through its almond-shaped eye with its round iris. Like many other supernaturals, the Banded-eye God has a cleft head and a downturned mouth. Unlike others, the Banded-eye God is only known from its profile - these renditions are generally concentrated on bowls from the Valley of MexicoValley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
(as shown on left), although the Banded-eye God is one of the five supernaturals shown on Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1 is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals and is considered by some a "Rosetta stone" of Olmec religion...
from the Olmec heartland
Olmec heartland
The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest...
.
Rather than a distinct supernatural in its own right, however, Taube finds God VI to be yet another aspect of the Maize God.
Continuity Hypothesis
Marshall Saville first suggested, in 1929, that Olmec deities were forerunners of later Mesoamerican gods, linking were-jaguar votive axes with the Aztec god TezcatlipocaTezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. One of the four sons of Ometeotl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty,...
. This proposal was amplified by Miguel Covarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias
José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian among other interests. In 1924 at the age of 19 he moved to New York City armed with a grant from the Mexican government, tremendous talent, but very little English speaking skill. Luckily,...
in his 1957 work Indian Art of Mexico and Central America where he famously drew a family tree showing 19 later Mesoamerican rain deities as descendents of a "jaguar masked" deity portrayed on a votive axe. The Continuity Hypothesis has since been generally accepted by scholars, although the extent of Olmec influence on later cultures is still debated.
Further reading
- Joralemon, Peter David (1971) A study of Olmec iconography, Dumbarton Oaks.
- Joralemon, Peter David (1976) Olmec Dragon: a study in pre-Columbian iconography, UCLA Latin American Studies Series, v 31, pp. 27–71.