The_Olmec_Civilization

The Olmec Civilization The Olmec civilization was quite possibly the first true civilization in Mesoamerica, located in the tropical lowlands of Mexico. They produced the earliest sophisticated art and their distinctive style provided a model for the Maya, Aztec and other later civilizations in the region. The Olmec culture began in approximately 1200 B.C., more than 1,500 years before the Maya’s. The Olmecs built large settlements, established elaborate trade routes and developed religious rituals, including ceremonial ball games, blood-letting and human sacrifice. The trade routes the Olmecs established allowed their influence to spread as far as Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and El Salvador. San Lorenzo was the capital of the Olmec civilization, with smaller cities such as Laguna de los Cerros, La Venta, Las Limas and Tres Zapotas. San Lorenzo is on a fertile plain, which lies along the Chiquito River. Anthropologists have determined from the evidence found in San Lorenzo that the Olmecs had class structure with luxurious housing for the upper classes and modest structures for the middle class and poor. The agriculture of the Olmecs is one of the most obvious examples of social stratification. In San Lorenzo, the rainy olmec, king, class, cities, san, olmecs, lorenzo, land, trade, river, government, upper, quite, president, middle, laws, been, areas, while, state, produced, princes, own, must, mainly, florida, fertile, fear, detroit, current, civilization, bloodlines, along, allowed, year