Olmec Art, A Mystery

Mesoamerica was home to a great number of independent cultural groups over many thousands of years, many of which are world famous due to the incredible artifacts and archaeological sites which they left behind. While the Maya and the Aztec empires are both very well known, the most mysterious and fascinating has to be the Olmecs, the first complex civilization in Mexico; they flourished during the Formative period, between 1500 BCE and 400 BCE. Much of what is known has come about through study of the artistic artifacts they left behind; but for every answer, two more questions are raised about these peoples' lives.

When referring to Olmec art, one is usually talking about their carved figurines. Their sculptures ranged in size from several feet in height to diminutive at only a few inches in size, however, they had a vast range of subjects in their repertoire.. From giant faces to jade infants in the fetal position, the pieces all show definitive hallmarks and similar motifs. Illustrations of the human body show an unusual and curious variety of renderings; while some show immensely creative (and consistent) distortion of features, others are strikingly naturalistic.

Found at multiple archaeological sites, is the Olmec culture's 'baby-face' figurine - a motif that is frequently found. These figures have chubby bodies, and highly detailed faces with an infant's jowls, a downturned mouth, and slits for eyes. Cranial deformation is suspected to have been deliberately practiced by them, as their heads are most often pear-shaped. It's not clear what the small sculptures represented to the civilization, but the sheer numbers recovered from dig sites indicates that they were of great importance.

Another motif is the were-jaguar. The big cats were revered by the Olmecs as well as many cultures which came after them, and no wonder; they were the most incredible predator of the jungle. The hallmarks of this style involve an open, downturned mouth, almond shaped eyes, a cleft in the head and a short baby's body. Other figurines combined human and animal aspects together; they seem to represent a person in the process of transforming into a beast. Debate rages over the meaning of these statues; some scholars believe that they represented shamans or priests wearing a disguise.

The delicately carved figurines are not the only artistic mystery the Olmecs left behind: there has been at least one cave found in the state of Guerrero, called Juxlahuaca, which contains murals which may have been made by them. Elaborate and well-developed cave art has been found at this site in Mesoamerica, where their motifs are evident. The site contains the 6-foot tall Painting 1, which appears to depict human sacrifice, or at least a holy ritual involving two people. There are also red jaguars and serpents fresco-ed on the rocky walls, and several skeletal remains, indicating this place was a ritual burial ground at some point.

Most instances of the appraisal of Olmec art, fail to actually attribute meaning to those items studied, and this has made the evaluation of their culture even more intriguing for experts.. Unfortunately complete sites may never be located that can shed light on why the Olmecs used certain motifs. They represented their environment in an unusual way, and their paintings and carvings are brilliant examples of their creative thought processes..

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