Object Notes

The vast Mesoamerican culture area encompasses most of what is today central and southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and the western areas of Honduras and El Salvador.

Hollow pottery baby figurines are a common theme in Olmec art, where they represent the capacity of kings to regenerate life out of death. They are known as baby-face figurines because they exhibit plump bodies and facial features similar to an infant. They are normally depicted in a seated position, with arms raised and legs spread, and nude with no indication of gender.

During the late second millennium BCE, ceramic female figures were a popular theme among the peoples of central Mexico. They often share a number of characteristics including unnatural limbs and distinctive, sometimes abnormal, facial features, which may have granted them more direct access to the supernatural world.

During the late second millennium BCE, ceramic female figures were a popular theme among the peoples of central Mexico. They often share a number of characteristics including unnatural limbs and distinctive, sometimes abnormal, facial features, which may have granted them more direct access to the supernatural world.

Ground stone axe heads, or celts, were tools for clearing wood and brush from land to be farmed. Celts made of precious greenstone, jadeite, and serpentine were important in Olmec ritual and may have constituted a form of wealth. Celts were most commonly placed in caches and burials. Incised celts were produced late in the Olmec era. In form, they are adaptations

The carved stone images Olmec kings wore on their foreheads and chests projected supernatural power.

The sages of Olmec civilization etched their creed on polished stone artifacts and then rubbed red paint into the patterns. This small, carved greenstone tablet has been called the earliest example of Olmec hieroglyphic writing, but its incised symbols are not actually writing but represent the only known image of the Olmec concept of the cosmos.

The

Ground stone axe heads, or celts, were tools for clearing wood and brush from land to be farmed. Celts made of precious jadeite and serpentine were important in Olmec ritual and may have constituted a form of wealth. Great numbers of them were placed in caches.

The carved stone images Olmec kings wore on their foreheads and chests projected supernatural power. A great king also possessed small sculptures, such as this carved serpentine figurine that depicts a crouching or kneeling man with both hands resting on the front of the knees.