Olmec First Mesoamerican Civilization 1800 BC – 400 BC Pre-Classic or Formative Period “Mother Civilization”? - Architecture, ceremonial centers - Extensive symbolic art - Earliest known ballgame - Earliest known writing and calendar Major sites: San Lorenzo, La Venta

March 14, 2005     Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

For the Olmecs, “[t]he earth was reshaped as a means of religious expression.” –David Carrasco

All of the quotes cited are from Michael D. Coe’s work, Mexico “It has long been known that the ruins of the Great Temple were located a short distance to the northeast of the Cathedral, underneath the buildings of Colonial and modern day Mexico City. The chance discovery in 1978 of a huge oval monument by workers digging a pit for the installation of power transformers has led directly to the most important Aztec archeological discoveries of all time. This stone lies directly at the base of the HUITZILOPOCHTLI side of the temple, directly in front of one of seven successive rebuildings which the temple had undergone since its foundation. It bears on its upper surface a deep relief of the dismembered body of the goddess COYOLXAUHQUI, the malevolent sister of HUITZILOPOCHTLI, and is one of the masterpieces of the Aztec sculptural art.” All of the quotes cited are from Michael D. Coe’s work, Mexico

Coyolxauhqui

“ To understand the significance of this monument, we must recount the legend which lies behind it. HUITZILOPOCHTLI, the terrible warrior god of the Sun, was the miraculous result of the impregnation of his widowed mother, COATLICUE (she of the serpent skirt) by a ball of feathers as she was sweeping one day on Coatepec (Serpent Mountain) near Tula. Angered by what they perceived as her dishonor, her 400 sons (the stars of the southern sky), egged on by their sister COYOLXAUHQUI (almost certainly an avatar of the moon), decided to kill her; they eventually managed to behead COATLICUE, an event commemorated in a magnificent statue of the goddess, a pair of snakes representing the gushing blood issuing from her severed neck.”

Coatlicue

“Nevertheless, HUITZILOPOCHTLI emerged fully armed from her womb, and slew his sister COYOLXAUHQUI, hurling her body down from the summit of Coatepec, then pursued and defeated his 400 brothers—surely an astral myth of the defeat by the sun of the moon and the stars.” - Michael D. Coe, Mexico