olmec

PERSIN ON OLMECS P: cities arose from competing chiefdoms and became ceremonial centers with elaborate temples altars pyramids and tombs. E: Economy based on agriculture of beans, maize and squash R: Blood-letting and human sacrifice. Lavish religious centers. S: Erected huge stone carvings in likeness of a ruler when a ruler died. No plows for agriculture. “mother civilization” of Mesoamerica. Developed architecture and games I: May have created the first written western hemisphere language. Language made of signs that represent syllables and words, had a numbering system used to record names and deeds of rulers and religious leaders and battles and astronomical data. Accurate calendars and were a foundation for later Mesoamerican societies and languages N: In present day Mexico, by the Yucatan peninsula facing the Caribbean Sea.