Although I know very little about the Olmec civilization, based on the little I do know, I’ve always found them to be a rather interesting group. Their highly distinct/characteristic head monuments are probably one of the first things that come to mind when I think about the Olmecs. While I find the heads to be sort of ugly, they are equally intriguing. Think about how labor-intensive they were to create—and how difficult it must have been to adhere to a particular style repeatedly. It’s quite impressive. These heads were also gigantic (the reading mentions how each head weighed some 40 tons) and the Olmec moved the beastly works for long distances. It makes you wonder things like: how long did it take to create just one head? Where did the idea come from? How exactly did they move them and how many men worked on any one head? It really seems like the Olmec’s signature heads are a key reason why the civilization was deemed so advanced…the “mother civilization” of Mesoamerica at the time. However, the reading mentions how numerous other civilizations were blossoming at the time as well, many from far away locales, so perhaps it isn’t really fair to classify the Olmecs under this somewhat narrow-minded (ignorant?) title. I looked up this “mother civilization” concept, and apparently archeologists have differing opinions surrounding the Olmecs being the sort of central or more advanced civilization of the time. Alternatively, some have likened the Olmecs more to a “sister civilization”—meaning that they, along with a variety of other equally dynamic civilizations, were progressed and noteworthy for that matter as well. I tend to like the sister civilization notion much better because it takes into account other peoples and their unique contributions to civilization. It seems like the whole “mother civilization” theory is influenced by the amount of knowledge that we have about the Olmecs—maybe we don’t have enough archeology or knowledge about the details of these other civilizations, so it is simpler to just designate the Olmecs as the “hub” of human civilization? And it also helps that elements of the Olmec culture seeped into the well-known Mayan culture/civilization.

Of course, the Olmecs very much were advanced, interesting, and complex. I found it particularly interesting how the Olmecs built pyramid-like structures (which sound pretty elaborate!) and how the rulers sported disguises, disguises that they were buried in as well. And rulers would engage in sacrificing their blood to the gods, as the Mayans later did as well.       

Speaking of the Mayans, I found them to be also very interesting. Major foci were war and otherworldly beings, the gods. Apparently rulers were rulers partly because they were thought to have some divine connection to the gods. This is interesting in that, even way back then, as many civilizations are today, politics (including war) and religion (or belief systems) were prevailing factors in what dominated their culture or “government”.  Their war-driven ways could be rather brutal too when it came to captives; the reading talks about how they would dismember people alive….that seems so extreme.  

Yet the Mayans were brilliant and their civilization seemed to really flourish. They not only developed their own comprehensive writing system (the most complex system before the Europeans arrived), but the aim of it was not to spread it. Instead it was meant to be a secret language of sorts—although it wasn’t exactly accessible to most Mayans; only educated types could comprehend it and pass it along to the rest of society. Definitely reminds me of other European civilizations where reading/writing were reserved for wealthy, educated types. Yet I find it very cool and unique how the Mayans kept a secret language.