Olmec Art of Ancient MexicoThree thousand years ago, in what is now southern Mexico, Olmec art and culture flourished. No written documents survive, but the exceptional beauty and technical brilliance of the sculpture and its seminal importance to other Mesoamerican cultures are evident in the outstanding objects examined in Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico. Specially commissioned photographs illustrate 120 magnificent pieces, which include 17 monumental sculptures from archaeological sites or Mexican museums, among them a 13-ton colossal head from San Lorenzo and the dynamic "Wrestler" from the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Also featured is an extraordinary array of beautiful small-scale objects, including a unique cache of stone figurines excavated at the site of La Venta, votive axes and other implements related to human sacrifice, a ferocious-looking jade jaguar mask, and serpentine shaman transformation figures. |
Contents
Forewords | 7 |
The Olmec World | 22 |
Daily Life in Olmec Times | 35 |
Copyright | |
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ancient archaeological artifacts baby-face band basalt Basin of Mexico bird monster Bocas body burial carved cave celts central ceramic ceremonial Cerro Chalcatzingo Chiapas clay cleft collection colossal heads complex composite anthropomorph Covarrubias cultural decorated depicted Drucker Early Formative Period El Azuzul excavations exhibition eyes face feline figurines Formative Period Jade greenstone Grove Guatemala Guerrero headdress human iconographic incised jadeite jaguar La Venta Las Limas Figure Limas Figure mask Maya Mesoamerica Mexico City Middle Formative Period Monument Morelos motifs mound mouth Museo Nacional Museum of Art Nacional de Antropología nose Oaxaca objects Olmec art Olmec sculpture Olmec style pendant pieces Piña Chan pottery Pre-Columbian profile head Puebla rectangular region represent Río Pesquero ritual rulers San Jose Mogote San Lorenzo San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan serpentine Stirling stone supernatural symbols Tabasco Teopantecuanitlan tion Tlapacoya Tlatilco Tres Zapotes Venta Veracruz vessels village were-jaguar Xalapa zoomorph