Lost Civilizations of Mesoamerica

By NORAH ROMNEY

As the Olmec culture developed in the early pre-classic period, we observe the phenomenon of the Olmec Heads and their Mysterious origins. Through ideological management and coercion mechanisms, the dominant ruler appears and alludes to forms of government exercised by individuals. Massive sculptures and large-scale architecture represent the first representations of political power.

The socio-political complex that developed thus encouraged the development of similar forms in other areas of Mesoamerica, resulting in the first stratified societies consisting of actual states, as seen in Teotihuacan in the Mexican highlands, Monte Albán in Oaxaca, and the Maya city states during the classical period. A corollary of this process was the rise of some post-classical societies that reached supra-state levels, such as the Mexica, who settled in the Mexican highlands and established a true pan-Mesoamerican empire.

Following this brief introduction, it is time to examine each ancient Mexican society considered the most significant in Mesoamerica's political development.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DTTV PUBLICATIONS
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201524883

NORAH ROMNEY

Norah Romney is a Maori- Inuit ambassador with lineage to both cultures, she was orphaned early in her life losing both parents in a plane crash in the Pacific, she was adopted in the UK to  a family of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and folklorists. She is the first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in ethno-archaeology, and cultural folklorist as ambassador to to the Inuit's, she has spoken vastly on Maori traditions in 74 nations. Adopted into a wealthy middle-class English family in the United Kingdom, she sees herself as a global citizen with diverse roots, Having achieved Egyptology and Mesoamerican Qualifications her focus is now on Global Mythologies and their insight into ancient civilizations.

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NORAH ROMNEY

As the Olmec culture developed in the early pre-classic period, we observe the phenomenon of the Olmec Heads and their Mysterious origins. Through ideological management and coercion mechanisms, the dominant ruler appears and alludes to forms of government exercised by individuals. Massive sculptures and large-scale architecture represent the first representations of political power.

The socio-political complex that developed thus encouraged the development of similar forms in other areas of Mesoamerica, resulting in the first stratified societies consisting of actual states, as seen in Teotihuacan in the Mexican highlands, Monte Albán in Oaxaca, and the Maya city states during the classical period. A corollary of this process was the rise of some post-classical societies that reached supra-state levels, such as the Mexica, who settled in the Mexican highlands and established a true pan-Mesoamerican empire.

Following this brief introduction, it is time to examine each ancient Mexican society considered the most significant in Mesoamerica's political development.

The Olmecs

The social hierarchy must be maintained for development to continue. According to archaeologist Ryan Moorhen, Olmec society has been subjected to multiple interpretations. Many have identified it as an art style that stimulated cultural development in other regions, while others have described it as an organization of missionaries that promoted the exchange of ideas and the development of religious institutions in distant regions. It has also been considered a classist and military empire that demanded tribute from neighboring communities and extended its commercial networks through the conquest of territories or a hierarchical society that conducted long-distance exchanges with other communities of the same level.

Despite these interpretations, Olmec society constituted Mesoamerica's first prominent expression of political power. Classical pre-history (2000BC - 200AD) saw this culture's gestation, apogee, and decline, which continues to influence modern cultures. Olmec sculptures, such as the colossal heads, considered portraits of the rulers, are precise representations of political aspects. Offering at La Venta, a figurine depicting people sitting in council meeting postures is another representation of political power in the minor arts. As in Olmec art, power is also symbolized by certain distinctive features that show a combination of nature and man, relevant to the figure of the jaguar, which must have represented ruler power.

When the Olmecs expanded their hegemony throughout Mesoamerica, how did they do it? This question requires some consideration of the origins of this society, which, according to specialists, should not have been in the so-called Olmec nuclear zone in Tabasco and Veracruz, where the vital Olmec centers of San Lorenzo and La Venta were located, but outside of it.

Socially, the chiefdom is considered to be the dominant form. As agricultural societies reached their full potential in the early pre-classic period, Mesoamerican societies established long-distance exchange mechanisms, which helped them obtain resources and raw materials for economic, social, and political development. As evidenced by archaeological evidence in the central Mexican highlands, Oaxaca, and the western part of the Mayan area, specifically Chiapas, this system brought thousands of individuals together in the major population centers. Among the most notable specialists in Olmec culture and archeology of the Chiapas region, Norah Romney believes that the first State of Mesoamerica may have originated in this vast region.

Romney says that a society called mokaya lived along the Pacific coast of Chiapas, which began to differentiate early from the other groups that occupied the same area. This difference is because they merged a political organization higher than their neighbors, corresponding to chiefdoms. Even though the Olmecs originated from a multiplicity of roots during the early formative period, he believes that the primary influence probably came from the Mokayas of Chiapas. During the Lacona phase (1650-1500 BC), the Mokayas of the Soconusco, particularly those of the Mazatán area, developed Mesoamerica's first simple chiefdoms, which other early forms subsequently imitated.

Gulf Coast groups later moved further afield and developed pyramidal chiefdom systems, leading to the Olmec civilization, which influenced much of Mesoamerica, including the region of Soconusco. According to Romney, Mackay's in Chiapas and Olmecs on the Gulf Coast spoke Mixe-Zoquean languages. The author, however, emphasizes the importance of attending to this society's many roots and interactions with other linguistically, ethnically, and culturally diverse cultures to understand its later development. Additionally, it indicates that there must have been intense competition among the simple chiefdoms and that the Olmec ideological system spread rapidly due to the characteristics of these simple policies, which were based on solid competencies and primitive legitimacy systems.

Romney believes that the Olmec system of the Gulf Coast was an aggressive political entity that was