Indian Roots Being Explored

The Olmecs are an enigma, even to the experts.

But one thing is unanimous: Their story represents the dawn of Mexican civilization.

Mexico once suppressed those roots in favor of those of its conquerors. That’s changing, and new interest in the Olmec is one result.

“Fifty years ago, Indian was a bad word,” says Guadalupe Amaya of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Mexicans are learning more about the ancient cultures, she says, so “they can be proud of that part of their inheritance.”

But studying the Olmec is even tougher than studying Aztecs or Mayans. Olmec pyramids were made of clay; they’ve since become grown over and look like ordinary hills. Their culture vanished millennia before the Spanish arrived.

But it’s worth the effort. Olmec sculptures are considered ancient Mexico’s most striking. Their colossal heads, which weigh several tons, are thought by most to depict rulers. Others believe them to be helmet-wearing athletes, heroes of the Mesoamerican ball game.

Olmec altars, too, are a subject of controversy. Some say they’re not altars at all, but thrones.

And where do the Olmec come from? One school claims they arrived from the same place as all other Native American peoples - Asia. Others argue that the features of the Olmec face are distinctively African.

Everyone agrees, though, that the Olmec held the jaguar in sacred esteem. Some sculptures depict humans with jaguar-like features, a symbol of power. Some Olmec altar/thrones have diagonal gashes on them; one theory holds they symbolize jaguar claw marks.

Many smaller figurines are thought to represent Down syndrome.

Olmec artists also carved animals that look like Disneyesque cartoon characters. Some evidence, though, suggests the Olmec may have not always been a sweet, happy bunch; they may have founded the belief in human sacrifice the Aztecs later practiced in notorious volume.

Whatever happened to the Olmec? Sergio Vasquez, a professor of archaeology at the University of Veracruz at Xalapa, says nothing happened to the people themselves. Olmec culture merely declined and was replaced.

But its legacy lives on.

Veracruz and Tabasco are full of museums featuring Olmec artifacts. It doesn’t take much to find them. And the world-renowned National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City has a fantastic Olmec collection, as well as Mayan and Aztec pieces.

Staying in the states? The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. also has a large Olmec exhibit, “Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico,” on display through Oct. 20.

For more information, call the gallery at (202) 737-4215.

, DataTimes