Olmec Civilization

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Olmec Civilization
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• 1,200-400 BC
• Alluvial Soil along rivers south of Gulf of
  Mexico.
• Large mounds and stone monuments.
• Villages grew as food supply grew.

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Olmec Society

• Most were fishers and farmers.
• Built homes on top of mounds.
• City-dwellers Elite priests

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Olmec Art and Learning

• Olmecs moved basalt more than 50 miles to build
  large stone monuments.
• Used early form of glyph writing and developed a
  calendar.
• Chief God was the Jaguar.

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Legacy?

• Did not expand through warfare rather they
  influenced others by trade.
• Trade Centers.
• In 500 B.C. Olmecs abandon cities.
• By 400 B.C. Olmecs all but gone.
• Mother culture for those that followed.