Olmec Tribe
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OLMECS
The Olmec culture flourished from around 1200 to 300 BC in central Mexico and parts of Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. Olmec works of art, made of stone, clay, and jade, represent the first sophisticated artistic style thus far discovered in the Americas.
Olmec society was hierarchical, with social classes determined by status and wealth. The rulers, priests, and skilled artisans lived in larger towns or cities, for example, San Lorenzo or La Venta, and they depended upon farmers in the surrounding countryside to produce enough food for the urban population.
Because no written records of the Olmecs survive, Olmec society is recontructed on the basis of architecture, sculpture, ceramics, tools, and other objects that have survived. Some scholars use the term Olmec to name a complex civilization that formed the foundation of all Mexican civilizations. Other use the term, however, to designate an artistic style. The name derives from the Aztec word "Olman" ("Rubber Country") for the topical lowlands near the Gulf of Mexico, where the Olmec archaeological sites are found. It is said that at the time of the Conquest, rubber trees were plentiful.
The hallmark of the Gulf Coast Olmec is the monumental basalt sculpture in the form of colossal heads, thrones and human figures, and supernatural creatures...