A Timeline and History of the Olmec Civilization

A Timeline and History of the Olmec Civilization Olmec: An Introduction The Olmec civilization is the name given to a sophisticated central American culture with its heyday between 1200 and 400 BC. The Olmec heartland lies in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco, at the narrow part of Mexico west of the Yucatan peninsula and east of Oaxaca. The following is an introductory guide to the Olmec civilization, its place in Central American prehistory, and some important facts about the people and how they lived. Olmec Timeline Initial Formative: 1775-1500 cal BCEarly Formative: 1450-1005 cal BCMiddle Formative: 1005-400 cal BCLate Formative: 400 cal BC While the very earliest sites of the Olmec show relatively simple egalitarian societies based on hunting and fishing, the Olmecs eventually established a highly complex level of political government, including public building projects such as pyramids and large platform mounds; agriculture; a writing system; and a characteristic sculptural artistry including enormous stone heads with heavy features reminiscent of angry babies. Olmec Capitals There are four main regions or zones that have been associated with Olmec by the use of iconography, architecture and settlement plan, including  San Lorenzo de Tenochtitlan,  La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros. Within each of these zones, there were three or four different levels of hamlets of different sizes. At the center of the zone was a fairly dense center with plazas and  pyramids  and kingly residences. Outside of the center were a somewhat sparser collection of hamlets and farmsteads, each at least economically and culturally tied to the center. Olmec Kings and Rituals Although we dont know any of the Olmec king names, we do know that the rituals associated with king included an emphasis on the sun and reference to solar equinoxes were built into platform and plaza configurations. Sun glyph iconography is seen on many locations and there is an undeniable importance of  sunflower  in dietary and ritual contexts. The ballgame played an important role in  Olmec culture, as it does in many central American societies, and, like those other societies, it may have included human sacrifice. The colossal heads are often sculpted with headgear, thought to represent ball player wear; animal effigies exist of jaguars dressed as ball players. It is possible that women also played in the games, as there are figurines from  La Venta  which are females wearing helmets. Olmec Landscape The Olmec farms and hamlets and centers were situated on and next to a diverse set of landforms, including floodplain lowlands, coastal plains, plateau uplands, and volcanic highlands. But the large Olmec capitals were based on high places in the  floodplains  of big rivers such as Coatzacoalcos and Tabasco. The Olmec coped with recurring floods by building their residences and storage structures on artificially raised earth platforms, or by rebuilding on old sites, creating tell formations. Many of the earliest Olmec sites are likely buried deep within the floodplains. The Olmec were clearly interested in color and color schemes of the environment. For example, the plaza at  La Venta  has a striking appearance of brown soil embedded with tiny bits of shattered greenstone. And there are several blue-green serpentine mosaic pavements tiled with clays and sands in a rainbow of different colors. A common sacrificial object was a jadeite offering covered with red  cinnabar. Olmec Diet and Subsistence By 5000 BC, the Olmec relied on  domestic maize,  sunflower, and manioc, later domesticating  beans. They also gathered corozo palm nuts, squash, and  chili. There is some possibility that the Olmec were the first to use  chocolate. The main source of animal protein was domesticated  dog  but that was supplemented with white-tailed deer, migratory birds, fish, turtles, and coastal shellfish. White tailed-deer, in particular, was specifically associated with ritual feasting. Sacred places:  Caves (Juxtlahuaca and Oxtotitln), springs, and mountains. Sites: El Manati, Takalik Abaj, Pijijiapan. Human Sacrifice:  Children and infants at  El Manati; human remains under monuments at  San Lorenzo;  La Venta  has an altar showing an eagle-clad king holding a captive. Bloodletting, ritual cutting of part of the body to allow bleeding for sacrifice, was probably also practiced. Colossal Heads:  Appear to be portraits of male (and possibly female) Olmec rulers. Sometimes wear helmets indicating that they are ballplayers, figurines, and sculpture from  La Venta  show that women wore helmet headgear, and some of the heads may represent women. A relief at the Pijijiapan as well as  La Venta  Stela 5 and La Venta Offering 4 show women standing next to men rulers, perhaps as partners. Olmec Trade, Exchange, and Communications Exchange:  Exotic materials were brought in or traded from far places to  the Olmec  zones, including literally tons of volcanic basalt to  San Lorenzo  from the Tuxtla mountains, 60 km away, which was carved into royal sculptures and  manos  and metates, natural basalt columns from Roca Partida. Greenstone (jadeite, serpentine, schist, gneiss, green quartz), played a clearly important role in elite contexts at Olmec sites. Some sources for these materials are the gulf coastal region in Motagua Valley, Guatemala, 1000 km away from the Olmec heartland. These materials were carved into beads and animal effigies. Obsidian  was brought in from Puebla, 300 km from  San Lorenzo. And also, Pachuca green obsidian from central Mexico Writing:  The earliest Olmec writing began with glyphs representing calendrical events, and eventually evolved into logographs, line drawings for single ideas. The earliest proto-glyph so far is an Early Formative greenstone carving of a footprint from El Manati. The same sign shows up on a Middle Formative monument 13 at  La Venta  next to a striding figure. The  Cascajal block  shows many early glyph forms. The Olmec designed a printing press of sorts, a roller stamp or cylinder seal, which could be inked and rolled onto human skin, paper, or cloth. Calendar:  260 days, 13 numbers and 20 named days. Olmec Sites La Venta,  Tres Zapotes,  San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Tenango del Valle,  San Lorenzo, Laguna de los Cerros,  Puerto Escondido, San Andres, Tlatilco, El Manati, Juxtlahuaca Cave, Oxtotitln Cave, Takalik Abaj, Pijijiapan, Tenochtitlan, Potrero Nuevo, Loma del Zapote,  El Remolino  and Paso los Ortices, El Manatà ­, Teopantecuanitln, Rà ­o Pesquero, Takalik Abaj Olmec Civilization Issues The Olmec Civilization is at the center of the  mother-sister controversy, which is a debate concerning the relative strength of the Olmec society compared to other early Mesoamerican cultures.The  Cascajal Block, a large block found in a quarry that may be among the earliest written records in central America, andThe search for  bitumen  sources, which was an important resource to many archaeological societies in central America. Olmec bloodletting spoons  have a new explanation these daysWas  chocolate  first used and domesticated by the Olmec? Sources Blomster JP, Neff H, and Glascock, MD. 2005 Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis.  Science  307:1068-1072.Diehl RA. 2005 Patterns of Cultural Primacy.  Science  307:1055-1056.Flannery KV, Balkansky AK, Feinman GM, Grove DC, Marcus J, Redmond EM, Reynolds RG, Sharer RJ, Spencer CS, and Yaeger J. 2005. Implications of new petrographic analysis for the Olmec ‘‘mother culture’’ model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(32):11219-11223.Follensbee BJA. 2008. Fiber technology and weaving in formative-period Gulf Coast cultures. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:87–110.Henderson JS, Joyce RA, Hall GR, Hurst WJ, and McGovern PE. 2007. Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(48):18937-18940.  Joyce RA, and Henderson JS. 2007. From feasting to cuisine: Implications of archaeological research in an early Hondura n village. American Anthropologist 109(4):642–653. Joyce RA, and Henderson JS. 2010. Being Olmec in Early Formative Period Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1):187-200.Kaufman T, and Justeson J. 2007. Writing the history of the word for cacao in ancient Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:193-237.Pohl MD, and von Nagy C. 2008. The Olmec and their contemporaries. In: Pearsall DM, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. London: Elsevier Inc. p 217-230.Rodrà ­guez Martà ­nez MdC, Ortà ­z Ceballos P, Coe MD, Diehl RA, Houston SD, Taube KA, and Alfredo DC. 2006. Oldest Writing in the New World. Science 313:1610-1614.  Sharer RJ, Balkansky AK, Burton JH, Feinman GM, Flannery KV, Grove DC, Marcus J, Moyle RG, Price TD, Redmond EM et al. 2006. On The Logic Of Archaeological Inference: Early Formative Pottery And The Evolution Of Mesoamerican Societies. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):90-103.Wendt CJ, and Cyphers A. 2008. How the Olmec used bitumen in ancient Mesoamerica. 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Gandhis Salt March

Gandhi's Salt March On March 12, 1930, a group of Indian independence protesters began to march from Ahmedabad, India to the sea coast at Dandi some 390 kilometers (240 miles) away. They were led by Mohandas Gandhi, also known as the Mahatma, and intended to illegally produce their own salt from the seawater.  This was Gandhis Salt March, a peaceful salvo in the fight for Indian independence. Satyagraha, an Act of Peaceful Disobedience The Salt March was an act of peaceful civil disobedience or satyagraha, because, under the law of the British Raj in India, salt-making was banned. In accordance with the 1882 British Salt Act, the colonial government required all Indians to buy salt from the British and to pay a salt tax, rather than producing their own. Coming on the heels of the Indian National Congresss January 26, 1930, declaration of Indian independence, Gandhis 23-day-long Salt March inspired millions of Indians to join in his campaign of civil disobedience. Before he set out, Gandhi wrote a letter to the British Viceroy of India, Lord E.F.L. Wood, Earl of Halifax, in which he offered to halt the march in return for concessions including the abolition of the salt tax, reduction of land taxes, cuts to military spending, and higher tariffs on imported textiles. The Viceroy did not deign to answer Gandhis letter, however. Gandhi told his supporters, On bended knees, I asked for bread and I have received stone instead- and the march went on. On April 6, Gandhi and his followers reached Dandi and dried seawater to make salt. They then moved south down the coast, producing more salt and rallying supporters. Gandhi is Arrested On May 5, the British colonial authorities decided that they could no longer stand by while Gandhi flouted the law. They arrested him and severely beat many of the salt marchers. The beatings were televised around the world; hundreds of unarmed protesters stood still with their arms at their sides while British troops smashed batons down on their heads. These powerful images stoked international sympathy and support for the Indian independence cause. The Mahatmas choice of the salt tax as the first target of his non-violent satyagraha movement initially sparked surprise and even derision from the British, and also from his own allies such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. However, Gandhi realized that a simple, key commodity like salt was the perfect symbol around which ordinary Indians could rally. He understood that the salt tax impacted every person in India directly, whether they were Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, and was more easily understood than complex questions of constitutional law or land tenure. Following the Salt Satyagraha, Gandhi spent nearly a year in prison. He was one of more than 80,000 Indians jailed in the aftermath of the protest; literally millions turned out to make their own salt. Inspired by the Salt March, people across India boycotted all kinds of British goods, including paper and textiles. Peasants refused to pay land taxes. The Government Attempts to Quell the Movement The colonial government imposed even harsher laws in an attempt to quell the movement. It outlawed the Indian National Congress, and imposed strict censorship on Indian media and even private correspondence, but to no avail. Individual British military officers and civil service employees anguished over how to respond to non-violent protest, proving the effectiveness of Gandhis strategy. Although India would not gain its independence from Britain for another 17 years, the Salt March raised international awareness of British injustices in India. Although not many Muslims joined Gandhis movement, it did unify many Hindu and Sikh Indians against British rule. It also made Mohandas Gandhi into a famous figure around the world, renowned for his wisdom and love of peace.

Contemporary art and Def jam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Contemporary art and Def jam - Essay Example The essay "Contemporary art and Def jam" discusses one such new art form, a variant of poetry reading known as def jam. As civilization progressed, so did art as it branched out into other forms, such as the performance arts of song, dance, and theater. The objective is the same, which is to show an artist's ideas through his or her body of work, to highlight creativity and expression known as aesthetics. As language developed, so did the transmission of ideas through the printed word as in literary art works of short stories, epics, novels, and essays although some kinds of primitive art form still exist in the form of the verbal arts, like poem recitation or the telling of a story by a professional storyteller directly to audiences. There are practically no limits to the form an art can take, constrained perhaps only by the creative imagination of an artist. The two basic art forms are visual and performance art; both possess characteristics of being mimetic, meaning it mimics something found in the real world as its representation. Modern society has witnessed newer art forms due to an advent of advanced technologies like the ability to record sound and images through audio and visual techniques like in video disks.Def jam is also known as def poetry jam or def poetry slam; it is a variant of poetry readings that were so popular in previous centuries, even as part of religious rites in the form of prayers, hymns, and incantations. Poetry reading is rather sedate in that the audience is expected. to stay silent during the entire reading performance, appreciative of the poet's actual physical presence. Like the other art forms of jazz, hip-hop and rap music, it derived primarily from the black American community as a subtle form of political protest. Many blacks still feel that the aims of the Civil Right Movement were not achieved despit e an abolition of slavery after the end of Civil War; discrimination still exists in many forms, both overt and subvert in education, politics, housing, employment, health care, society, etc. Def jam is classified as performance art as it is an interactive form of poetry reading; the audience is not expected to stay silent, but rather try to show its appreciation by the intensity of audience reaction. It no longer considers poetry reading as private art (Novak 40) but rather as a public performance. The sing-song tone is similar to that of rap or hip-hop music, with rhyming insults, suggestive comments, and innuendos very common. This is the main attraction of def jam, because although its message is basically the same, that of a silent political protest and making a substantive statement, its continued popularity since its inception two or three decades ago is its unconventional way a message is delivered. Although def jam owes its provenance to the protest movement, the current ve rsions delve on a variety of topics. No topic is sacred or off limits, as the saying, anything goes in it; the more controversial, challenging, or unusual the topic of the poem is, the more an audience shows its appreciation for the sheer talent exhibited by the artist-poet, complete with all props, actions, gestures, appropriate dress, tone of delivery, and volume of voice but the message is a constant attraction. It is the essence of def