Where was the Olmec tribe?
The Olmec's lived in what is now the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz. Their capitol city was San Lorenzo, but It changed to La Venta when San Lorenzo was abandoned.
Olmec Life
Not much is known about the political or social structures of the Olmec, but we think that the giant head statues were those of leaders.
The Olmec participated in extensive trade networks. These networks transported large amounts of precious items over long distances.
Even though the main cities of San Lorenzo and La Venta had an urban design, most people lived in small villages These villages were clusters of houses, which had a main living structure, a lean two for animals and the like, a garden, and several storage pits that were like root cellars. Some of the larger villages had temples.
Outside the village their were fields for growing Maize, beans, squash, manioc, sweet potato, and sometimes cotton.
With their plant diet, the Olmec's ate fish, turtle, snake, mollusks, sometimes crabs and shellfish, birds, peccary, opossum, raccoon, rabbit, and deer. However, most of their protein came from dog.
The Olmec's are also noted for their relative technology. They had zero, and a writing system.
The Olmec participated in extensive trade networks. These networks transported large amounts of precious items over long distances.
Even though the main cities of San Lorenzo and La Venta had an urban design, most people lived in small villages These villages were clusters of houses, which had a main living structure, a lean two for animals and the like, a garden, and several storage pits that were like root cellars. Some of the larger villages had temples.
Outside the village their were fields for growing Maize, beans, squash, manioc, sweet potato, and sometimes cotton.
With their plant diet, the Olmec's ate fish, turtle, snake, mollusks, sometimes crabs and shellfish, birds, peccary, opossum, raccoon, rabbit, and deer. However, most of their protein came from dog.
The Olmec's are also noted for their relative technology. They had zero, and a writing system.
Olmec Decline
No one really knows why the Olmec's disappeared. All we know for sure was that they abandoned their cities, starting in the west and moving eastward until the last ones disappeared. By this time, other civilizations had started.
The most prevalent theory, is that tectonic upheaval made the land unusable for the Olmec's, so they kept having to move to the places that had not experienced changes, which slowly disappeared.
The most prevalent theory, is that tectonic upheaval made the land unusable for the Olmec's, so they kept having to move to the places that had not experienced changes, which slowly disappeared.