Essay Sample on The Olmec Culture
The ancient Olmec civilization is considered by archaeologists to be one of the earliest great civilizations in Mesoamerica. This civilization came and went long before the Aztec empire was, and they left their mark on the peoples of Mexico and beyond, and developed a complex culture. Lasting somewhere between 1200 BCE and 400 BCE, the Olmec were a peculiar group of people who lived on southern Mexico's tropical lowlands in southeastern Veracruz and western Tabasco. We identify them as “the Olmec'' because that was what the Aztecs called them, and in the Aztec language “the Olmec'' meant ‘rubber people’ or ‘people who traded rubber.’ From historical evidence, we know this culture is known to have influenced other peoples that followed this complex civilization, passing on gods, large stone structures, games, and important monuments. Through passing on these things, the Olmecs influence and consistency of trade continued to the south of Nicaragua. (Cartwright)
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, trading was one of the Olmecs key to prosperity. They first started out by going to a very healthy area of the Gulf of Mexico to grow plentiful crops like corn and beans, giving them an agricultural surplus. From this surplus, around 1200 BCE, important city centres were created in San Lorenzo, La Venta, Laguna de los Cerros, and Tres Zapatos. San Lorenzo achieved prosperity quickly from their smart strategy to keep from being flooded, which gave them the ability to use local trade. The typical Omlec traded goods when they were able to control local trade included rubber, jade, serpentine, mica, pottery, feathers and polished mirrors of ilmenite and magnetite.
Unsurprisingly, the Olmecs original method of getting their goods sold all around and obtaining supplies, was through warfare. Warriors that were a part of San Lorenzo would employ obsidian-edged weapons, hand-to-hand advanced combate, and to maintain control over local trade routes from the Veracruz region, they had small elite divisions as big as in the ten to hundreds range. The city of La Venta supposedly gained power from 900 to 400 BCE and brought forward the sling, clay projectiles, and yucca cotton armer to attain superiority. By 400 BCE, the common weapons and armor mostly for a-list and, to a lesser extent, for helping commoner forces were trophy heads, obsidian-tip spears, spear throwers, wood shields, upper torso armor, and hide helmets. These tactics also became popular in the lowland Mayan area where taking prisoners from war, and whoever had the best warfare took over.
