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 don't 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.
About.com's Guide to the Olmec
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