Olmec Religion

The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of succeeding pre-Columbian Mesoamerican religions. The Olmecs, first of many Mesoamerican civilizations, developed on the southern Gulf Coast of present-day Mexico in the centuries prior to 1200 BCE and endured until roughly 400 BCE. There are no surviving direct descriptions of the Olmec's religious beliefs. Scholars and archeologists must rely upon analysis of Olmec iconography and art. They also study later, better documented pre-Columbian cultures and the modern-day cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, assuming a continuity exists that extends from Olmec times through to the present. This assumption is called the Continuity Hypothesis. Based on these techniques, researchers have extracted information about several Olmec deities and supernatural entities who embody the characteristics of various animals. Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important. Their links to the Olmec deities or provided legitimacy for their rulership. There is also considerable evidence supporting the existence of shamans in the archaeological record. Early researchers conjectured that Olmec religious beliefs centered upon a jaguar god.[4] This view was challenged in the 1970s by Peter David Joralemon, who posited what are now considered to be 8 different supernatural beings. Over time, Joralemon's viewpoint has become the dominant one. The study of Olmec religion, however, is still in its infancy. Any current list of Olmec deities is not definitive or comprehensive, but only provisional. Attributes portrayed in surviving images are not uniform, but extremely heterogeneous. Neither do they exhibit any sexual characteristics which would indicate gender. Despite a high degree of ambiguity, however, a handful of possible Olmec deities has been tentatively identified. God One is the Olmec Dragon, also known as the Earth Monster The dragon has flame eyebrows, a bulbous nose, a bifurcated tongue, and prominent fangs. Along with the Bird Monster, the Olmec Dragon is one of the most commonly depicted Olmec gods. God Two is the Maize deity, identified by the plants sprouting from its cleft head. God Three is the Rain Spirit and/or the Were-jaguar (a blend of human and jaguar characteristics). There is disagreement among researchers whether the Rain Spirit and were-jaguar are one distinct or two separate dieties. God Four is called the Banded-eye God, named for the narrow band that runs along the side of its face through its almond-shaped eye. Like many other deities, the Banded-eye God has a cleft head and a downturned mouth. Unlike the others, the Banded-eye God is only known from its profile. Rather than being a god in its own right, however, pre-Columbian scholar Karl Taube beleives that God Four is another aspect of the Maize God. God Five is the Feathered Serpent. The feathered, or plumed, serpent is depicted throughout Mesoamerica but first appears in Olmec iconography. There is disagreement concerning its importance to the Olmec. God Six is the Fish or Shark Monster, most often recognized by its shark tooth. The head of the monster also features a crescent-shaped eye and a small lower jaw. When its full body is depicted in its full-body form, the anthropomorphic Fish or Shark Monster also displays crossed bands, a dorsal fin, and a split tail.