Lecture 05 Formative Pre-Classic: The Olmec
ARTH350G Latin American Art

Travis Lee Clark
Utah Valley University

In this lecture we talk a bit about Mesoamerican geography and chronology and then introduce the Olmec, how little we know about them, and how they are (probably) the Ur culture for all of Mesoamerica. We talk about their major sites at La Venta and San Lorenzo, their love of jade, sky-dragons, altars, thrones, the REALLY creepy were-jaguar babies and of course, the big freaking heads.