Hello my fellow Steemians!

And Welcome to the second chapter of this “People’s of Meso America” Course!

In the first chapter we talked about some general timelines and about the Olmec people.

Here is the article in case you want to see it: https://steemit.com/history/@maxjoy/mesoamerican-people-chapter-one-olmecs-and-general-considerations

Today we are going to focus on the Olmec contemporaries.

While it’s true that the Olmec’s are the mother culture for the people in Meso America, some people think that they where the only ones living there at the time and the only culture that influenced the future ones.

That’s not totally accurate. The Olmec’s had contemporary cultures around them. They where by far the biggest in size and scope of cities and monuments.

They had a enormous trading area, where they would do commerce with people far away from their places. They’re influence on this other “tribes” is also very felt. But they where not the only ones.

Tlatilco culture

Another relevant culture of the time was the “Tlatilco” culture. By the time the first Olmec city was flourishing (San Lorenzo) so was the Tlatilco culture in the Basin of Mexico where Mexico City now stands. They emerged with the region’s first evidence of sociopolitical hierarchies.

They emerged in two cities Tlatilco in the west and Tlapacoya in the east. Hundreds of poetry goods and other vessels with Olmec motives where found at those cities, confirming the Olmec contact with them.

Teopantecuanitlan was another great site that started growing in 1000 B.C. Here we can find a more considerable Olmec Influence.

Chalcatzingo, another considerable site of the Tlatilco culture. It was We can see an intensive contact with the Olmecs of La Venta. This can be seen in artefacts, architecture and sculptures.

This area of Mexico started out as Tlatilco culture but became increasingly Olmec. By the time the the city of La Venta was abandoned, so were Teopantecuanitlan and Chalcatzingo.

The Zapotec’s

This is another important culture contemporary of the Olmec’s.

Their main city became “San Jose Magote” in the valley of Oaxaca. Again we fell a strong, strong Olmec Influence, to the point that the people of Magote build a 16 inch jade statue of an olmec man.

In the city we have found a monument with a glyph (aside from the monument 16 at La Venta, this is the oldest hieroglyphic known in Mesoamerica) and it’s a calendar glyph, evidence that the sacred calendar of 260 days had been created.

The epi-Olmec ones at Tres Zapotes are believe to date 32 B.C. a full 600 years later…

So It’s possible that the Zapotec’s influenced the Olmec’s in this important factor of their culture.

Soconusco

The Soconusco lived in what would later become the Mayan main territory and they probably had the most influence on the Olmec’s.

They where the first people to live in villages and to do pottery. Even before San Lorenzo was a village, thousands of people inhabited the Soconusco region.

They probably spoke the same language has the Olmec’s.

In their main city “Paso de la Amada” we can find the first ball court, built at no later (probably) than 1550 B.C. . The Olmec one at San Lorenzo was built at 1200 B.C. Making the one in Paso de la Amada not only the oldest ball court in Mesoamerica but in the world.

Who Influenced who?

It’s clear that the Olmec’s had a tremendous influence on the people around them, however more and more historians are abandoning the ideia that they where indeed the mother culture and thinking more on a co-evolution fashion.

The predecessors of the Mayan’s, the people of Soconusco had a clear influence on the Olmec civilisation.

So this debate is going on. However it is clear that the Olmec’s where a major influence and the most advanced culture on the region.

As always, thank you for reading.

Photos (except Logo) from Pixabay.com

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