The crazy world of Olmec art interpretation


Hello, I just watched this video, it's 59 minutes and 21 seconds long so make sure to get some popcorn or something before watching, called Lost Kingdoms of Central America and also read "La Venta" from Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia by Rebecca Gonzalez, its not long but still hope you have some left over popcorn or something. The article's main topic was about "The archaeological site at La Venta in southeastern Mexico..." and the discoveries of the Olmec and their civilization there (Gonzalez Lauck 798). The video's main topic is about the Olmec, kinda obvious, and how "No other emerging civilization in Mesoamerica had an elite class as privileged to the Olmec rulers" (Lost 11:00-11:07). One thing I do got to say about the Olmec and what is going to be the main topic here is the creative and beautiful art they left behind.

Olmec Votive Celts,
Jade
As I said the art is just something different for the Olmecs because as said in the article "...there are no texts to help explain the meaning of the themes depicted in its sculptural art," so everything of the Olmecs is interpreted differently and probably similarly to everybody as shown in these two sources (Gonzalez Lauck 800). A clear evidence to my point is that in the video the narrator says "If the public art suggested that the leaders possess supernatural powers their rituals and ceremonies seem to have reinforced that impression yet further," to show interpretation is crazy powerful in the world of art (Lost 15:44-15:54). In the article similar to the last sentence the article says how "One of the most remarkable offerings excavated in this precinct consisted of a group of sixteen figurines and reworked votive celts, carved in jade, serpentine, and sandstone," which is crazy to see how the video and article talked about the craziness that could have happened in rituals (Gonzalez Lauck 800). One thing I saw different in the article and video is the use of art where in the video they called Olmec sculptures as a mimic of man and jaguar, and in the article they used the Olmec Votive Celts which is somewhat sculpted and it seems like a regular man to me but then again that is my interpretation.

Olmec Jaguar God
In the end everything is by my viewpoint and opinion as most art is and all of this Olmec art is so new to me, and it blows my mind how creative they were back in the day even with no such high technological equipment. One thing that really impressed me is that in the video when they were talking about some sculptures in the museum and the tour guide showed "What we see here is a roaring jaguar which symbolises the power of the Olmec people" which seems so cool to me (Lost 13:38-13:50). Also how in the article how they found some burial grounds and found some graves with certain arrangement that "This assemblage is important because the figurines were found arranged in a semicircle, indicating that their creators meant to represent a significant scene" which to that I question what scene were they recreating for grave, was it how that certain person died we will never know (Gonzalez Lauck 800). Another thing is the big heads Olmecs have sculpted could have been the faces of their elite leaders or generals or something but obviously it wouldn't be up to scale. The Olmecs are one creative, crazy, amazing race of people that I loved learning about, thank you for reading and have a good day.

Works Cited

"La Venta" . Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lrccd.instructure.com/courses/131622/files/25885251/download?wrap=1.

YouTube. (2017, June 29). BBC.Lost.kingdoms.of.central.america.1of4.kingdom.of.the.jaguar.the.olmecs.2014.58min. YouTube. Retrieved September 18, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTuab0SNuPA.

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