Olmecs of Mesoamerica By Noah Fried, George Gavales, Bryce Veach and Drew Dickson

Economy

Trade The Olmecs were known to have traded both nationally and internationally They imported stone and other art supplies They imported seeds and other natural resources Bits of their culture were found so far as Central America

Labor There was specialized labor There were the average people who hunted, farmed, and fished There were craftsmen who made weapons and tools There were scribes who used Zapotec writing Officials to run the different sections of government were at the top of the list

Inventions The compass The ziggurat The ability to write The concept of zero A form of recreational sport using rubber balls

Religion There were human sacrifices, some victims were babies Rulers, priests, and shamans led all religious functions A or the god of the Olmecs was a feathered serpent All rulers were in some way related to a god, making them a sort of deity Shamans were represented by half human half animal figurines

Art Olmec art is highly stylized and uses an iconography reflective of the religious meaning of the artworks They used jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone among others The Wrestler is a good example of this(the slide background)

Caste System

Military There is no record of a military The weapons that could have been used were either destroyed or nonexistent They only recorded weapon of the Olmecs is a paddle shaped club Because of the size of the empire they must have had a military It seems that the stereotypical bow and arrow was not used unless they were destroyed