Olmeekse hoofden. Theorievorming in de prehistorische Olman, Veracruz, Mexico

Over the past 200 years the archaeology of the Olmec region in Veracruz, Mexico developed and many ideas and theories came to life. This thesis focuses on the academic development of theory concerning the Olmec colossal heads. To determine the line of thought of the various researchers in the area we can learn many things about the constitution of our own ideas. The development of Mesoamerican archaeology seems to have had a large influence on this matter. At first, under the influence of culture-history, scholars focussed their research mainly on specific objects and individual sites. When the Olmec civilization was discovered many refused to believe such a high developed society could predate the Maya’s, until eventually the antiquity of the Olmec culture was proved by radiocarbon dating. After 1960 Mesoamerican archaeology changed due to the emergence of processualism. More interest arose around processes of social activity and change and archaeologists started to conduct surveys...Show moreOver the past 200 years the archaeology of the Olmec region in Veracruz, Mexico developed and many ideas and theories came to life. This thesis focuses on the academic development of theory concerning the Olmec colossal heads. To determine the line of thought of the various researchers in the area we can learn many things about the constitution of our own ideas. The development of Mesoamerican archaeology seems to have had a large influence on this matter. At first, under the influence of culture-history, scholars focussed their research mainly on specific objects and individual sites. When the Olmec civilization was discovered many refused to believe such a high developed society could predate the Maya’s, until eventually the antiquity of the Olmec culture was proved by radiocarbon dating. After 1960 Mesoamerican archaeology changed due to the emergence of processualism. More interest arose around processes of social activity and change and archaeologists started to conduct surveys on the Olmec frontier. A new generation of scholars believed that the Olmec society developed beside many other societies as a sister culture, sharing a mutual ideological system. Many of the researchers who had fought for the antiquity of the Olmec however did not agree with the new perspectives and still saw the Olmec as the mother culture to all Mesoamerican civilizations. Connected with this new debate was the problem of the social organization of the Olmec. These debates had a visible influence on the different theories about the construction of the Olmec heads. Both parties interpreted the stone heads in a way it would fit in their ideas about the Olmec culture. Now most scholars agree that the colossal heads represent leaders, although the reason for their manufacture still differs. A new interpretation on the matter has been presented in this paper. In the Moche culture of the Andes leaders used corporate art to legitimize their power. In the Olmec society leaders might also have used art, such as the colossal heads, as a way to prove their divine right to rule. This would explain the prominent ideology that is present in Mesoamerica.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Olmeekse hoofden. Theorievorming in de prehistorische Olman, Veracruz, Mexico