Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica edited by John E. Clark and Mary E.
Pye, Yale University Press, $50, ISBN 0300085222
COLOSSAL stone heads, exquisitely carved jades of creatures that are
half-human, half-jaguar, massive offerings of polished stone axes buried in the
jungle, and evidence of child sacrifice and possibly cannibalism. Olmec
civilisation had it all. But who, apart from art historians, has ever heard of
it?
The Olmecs, who flourished on Mexico’s Gulf coast between 1250 BC and 400 BC,
are widely considered to have spawned Mesoamerican civilisation. One enduring
problem with Olmec studies has been their emphasis on its startling art objects
rather than the less glamorous “dirt archaeology”. The result is numerous art
historical studies on Olmec material culture, while not a single Olmec house has
yet been excavated.
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This scholarly and beautifully illustrated book concentrates on new
discoveries in a bid to redress the archaeological balance. Among them are
remains at El Manatí, where they have found Olmec busts carved from wood
and preserved under water, stone axes embedded in blocks of white clay, and a
cache of rubber balls.
These discoveries and others are finally pulling the Olmec into the realms of
archaeology and away from purely art historical studies. They make this a unique
and fascinating book.