Two Contributions From the Same Ancient Culture
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| Photo: Replica of an Olmec Colossal head from San Lorenzo, Carol Highsmith, University of Texas at Austin. |
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| Map of La Venta, Gonzalez Lauck, 1994 |
Similarities between the two sources are regarding the structures and excavations in La Venta. This is because Jacob Cooper at some point visited the ancient city accompanied by Rebecca Gonzalez, since she is the lead archeologist at La Venta. Information present in both is the use of serpentine stone during massive offerings, there was offering pit at the foot of the pyramid. Cooper mentions, "dozens of pieces of art have been found here, some relating to, or depicting Olmec rituals and ceremonies" (Lost 34:34-34:41). This example, and how that town was organized are some of the clearest similarities.
Nevertheless, there are also many differences in the sources. Cooper, in his video, explains about a highly developed civilization by their time, whom were able to harvest three times a year with products that had a complementary effect; those were maize, beans, and squash. He visits important museums that are focused in the history of the Olmecs, that way, the information collected is very reliable. There, Cooper presents masks used in rituals, how it was a stratified society, and wooden sculptures. Other topics addressed by him are the work of rubber and the ball game, long trips in order to obtain their work material (probably trading), and some beliefs that they had in the past; such as jaguars that were sacred.
On the other hand, Gonzalez explains in a deeper way the materials and designs used in the construction of the constructions at that place. She definitely has more information about La Venta due to the job she has. As Gonzalez mentions, "The archaeological remains at La Venta provides irrefutable evidence of the sophistication and Complexity of the Olmec civilization" (Gonzalez Lauck 800). It's amazing how much information could be stored after thousands of years, but it is just the beginning, since less than one percent of the place has been studied.
I already knew few things about the colossal heads from a past video we sad in my Humanities class. It was a great video entitled Colossal Olmecs which was a talk at San Francisco City College by Dr. Sara Ladron, the Director of the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. I'll leave the video at the end of the post. There, Dr. Ladron gave an overview of how the Olmec culture arose, among many other ideas, beliefs and rituals they practiced. Cooper says, "social institutions of the Olmec remained with the people of this region, morphing trough time to become ever more sophisticated and complex" (Lost 57:15-57:24). They were incredible and had advanced knowledge at their ancient times. Gonzalez also stated that, "La Venta represents the culmination of a long-term cultural manifestation that crystallized and consolidated a cultural substratum" (Gonzalez Lauck 800). Both sources were very interesting and had a bunch of valuable information.
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