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Unfortunately, most of the writers in the academic field prefer Gulf Coast territory. Did the Olmecs have an extended influence to champion the isolationist theories to the virtual exclusion of the in northern Mexico? Did they have some hand in building the diffusionist. In The Olmecs: America's First Civilisation (2004), mysterious pyramids at Teotihuacan? Richard A. Diehl has only one paragraph on the subject: Archaeologists have now concluded that the Olmecs inhabited a "The origins of Olmec culture have intrigued scholars and very large area of southern Mexico, much greater than had ever laypeople alike since Tres Zapotes Colossal Head I, a gigantic stone —_ been imagined. This discovery is not really surprising, since the human head with vaguely Negroid features, was discovered in Olmec city of Chalcatzingo near Mexico City was excavated and Veracruz 140 years ago. Since that time, Olmec culture and arthave —_ written about in the 1970s. been attributed to seafaring Africans, Egyptians, Nubians, So, the preponderance of the evidence shows that the Olmecs Phoenicians, Atlanteans, Japanese, Chinese, and other ancient were very aware of the villages near to them, and aware of cities wanderers. As often happens, the truth is infinitely more logical, if | and peoples quite far from them. Were they aware of less romantic: the Olmecs were Native Americans who created a transoceanic civilisations as well? unique culture in southeastern Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Archaeologists now trace Olmec origins back to pre-Olmec cultures in the region and there is no credible evidence for major intrusions from the outside. Furthermore, not a single bona fide artifact of Old World origin has ever appeared in an Olmec archaeological site, or for that matter anywhere else in Mesoamerica." With this paragraph, Diehl summarily dismisses all theories and evidence of transoceanic contact. We don't really know what a bona fide artifact would be, since Old World and New World articles were often identical. Also, we are given no further information on the pre- Olmec cultures from which the Olmecs presumably derived. But for the Olmecs actually to be Africans—not just look like them— they would almost certainly have come to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec via ship. But since such voyages are geometric patterns as an adult. He dismissed immediately with no : a may have been a shaman since all further discussion, the Olmecs An Olmec statue at the National Museum o} the objects placed with him were A shamanic culture The Olmecs had many unusual similarities with the Maya and other transoceanic cultures, such as reverence for jade and exotic feathers, the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs and the use of hieroglyphs on stone stelae as markers. Says Diehl of the artifacts found at the Olmec urial site at Tlatilco: "One high-status woman was laid to rest with 15 pots, 20 clay igurines, 2 pieces of red-painted right-green jadite that may have ormed part of a bracelet, a crystalline hematite plaque, a bone ragment with traces of alfresco paint, and miscellaneous stones. Another burial held the remains of a male whose skull had been deliberately modified in infancy and whose teeth were trimmed into simply had to have been local boys Anthropology, Mexico City, Mexico. likely part of a shaman's power who had pretty much always been there. At some time in remote bundle. prehistory, their early genetic group walked into this Olmec They included small metates for grinding hallucinogenic heartland area. mushrooms, clay effigies of mushrooms, quartz, graphite, pitch, According to Diehl, the Olmecs would have been an isolated and other exotic materials that could have been used in curing group within their region as well, having little contact with other _ rituals. A magnificent ceramic bottle placed in his grave depicted tribes in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. However, if the Olmecs a contortionist or acrobat who rests on his stomach with his hands were isolated from neighbours only a few hours' walk away, they supporting his chin while his legs bend completely around so that certainly wouldn't have had contact with people across an ocean, his feet touch the top of his head. Could this masterpiece be an would they? Diehl's view is largely accepted in many universities effigy of the actual occupant of the grave?" today, but would almost certainly seem to be wrong. Indeed, Diehl almost gets excited about the Olmecs. Could The Olmec settlements, according to Diehl, rose up they actually have been psychedelic jaguar shamans who liked to independently in their corner of Mesoamerica without the make monumental heads to keep themselves busy? influence of any other culture. They all suddenly began making While it is easy to see the Olmecs as proto-Mayans and citizens monumental statues out of basalt (one of the hardest and most of Olman (however large that country may have been), we should difficult stones to carve) and made large structures with also consider them as the fantastic proto-Mesoamericans they may sophisticated drainage systems. But they weren't really in contact have been: psychedelic aliens who used lasers to cut colossal with their early neighbours, he believes. The spread of Olmec- basalt heads; as Atlantean refugees who made a last stand in like artifacts was achieved only later when Olmec "styles" were Tabasco; or as Shang Chinese mercenaries taken from East Africa used by other, more widespread, cultures. or Melanesia and specially trained to administer the Pacific (and Diehl was actually proved wrong on this account when, in later Atlantic) ports of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; or perhaps as January 2007, it was announced that a 2,500-year-old Olmec- a people originally from the Atlantic side all along, having come influenced city had been found at Zazacatla, in the vicinity of from Africa possibly as a military force from Egypt or West Chalcatzingo and Cuernavaca, hundreds of miles from Olmec Africa circa 1500 BC. There are many possibilities. Gulf Coast territory. Did the Olmecs have an extended influence in northern Mexico? Did they have some hand in building the mysterious pyramids at Teotihuacan? Archaeologists have now concluded that the Olmecs inhabited a very large area of southern Mexico, much greater than had ever been imagined. This discovery is not really surprising, since the Olmec city of Chalcatzingo near Mexico City was excavated and written about in the 1970s. So, the preponderance of the evidence shows that the Olmecs were very aware of the villages near to them, and aware of cities and peoples quite far from them. Were they aware of transoceanic civilisations as well? 7 siete eens See bundle. They included small metates for grinding hallucinogenic mushrooms, clay effigies of mushrooms, quartz, graphite, pitch, and other exotic materials that could have been used in curing rituals. A magnificent ceramic bottle placed in his grave depicted a contortionist or acrobat who rests on his stomach with his hands supporting his chin while his legs bend completely around so that his feet touch the top of his head. Could this masterpiece be an effigy of the actual occupant of the grave?" Indeed, Diehl almost gets excited about the Olmecs. Could they actually have been psychedelic jaguar shamans who liked to make monumental heads to keep themselves busy? While it is easy to see the Olmecs as proto-Mayans and citizens of Olman (however large that country may have been), we should also consider them as the fantastic proto-Mesoamericans they may have been: psychedelic aliens who used lasers to cut colossal basalt heads; as Atlantean refugees who made a last stand in Tabasco; or as Shang Chinese mercenaries taken from East Africa or Melanesia and specially trained to administer the Pacific (and later Atlantic) ports of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; or perhaps as a people originally from the Atlantic side all along, having come from Africa possibly as a military force from Egypt or West Africa circa 1500 BC. There are many possibilities. NEXUS +59 DECEMBER 2007 — JANUARY 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com