Catalogue of a 1995-96 exhibition with 7 papers and pictures of the artifacts
This quite beautiful book is the product of an exhibition by the Art Museum of Princeton University that ran from December 1995 through February 1996. It was called "The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership". The first half of the book contains seven very interesting papers that made varying degrees of sense to me. Not because the papers were poor, but simply because I am not an authority in the field. Trying to weigh and interpret the scant threads of evidence (but the evidence is actually amazing) is tough for professionals. For amateurs like me, it is quite impossible to do much more than pay your money and take your chances. We follow along as best we can and watch developing trends in the scholarship.
The papers discuss various ideas of Olmec political / religious (not in our sense) organization, the extent of their cultural influence, the things we can tease out of the shamanistic symbols found, the artistic motifs we see again and again, and certain specific symbols such as the tree of life (by the greatly lamented Linda Schele). Enjoy the papers. They will enrich your idea of the culture we call the Olmec as it existed in multiple forms over a long period of time. However, another great benefit is to learn about how archaeologists and anthropologists of real quality work with evidence and construct their theories. This is especially so because we have no writing of the Olmec, if they ever had any.
The second half of the book is the actual catalogue of the show. It is full of glorious color photographs of amazing artifacts with very helpful annotations. It will dazzle you.
This is a very fine book about a wonderfully interesting civilization that great scholars continue to bring to more vivid life for us.
I also strongly recommend John E. Clark's "Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesomerica" that may be available in a strong library near you.
Reconstructing a culture entirely from religious art
Mesoamerican archaeology is a little world by itself - I know, because I used to live in it. It has a very cosy relationship with museums and the "art" collectors who buy the objects that are looted from archaeological sites, which lie destroyed, torn into shreds under the forests all over Central America and Mexico. But it has almost no touch with reality any more. The things they say about the ancient Olmec are almost fantasy, because in truth we know so little about these people. Almost all the objects in this book were stolen from Mexico, ripped from the archaeological context that might tell us something about their real meaning. These are probably religious articles - we may never know. But imagine trying to reconstruct the rich life of rennaisance Italy by looking at reliquaries in Catholic churches! If you are still persuaded by the "mysterious Olmec" propaganda spouted by Coe and his looter buddies, go read Flannery & Marcus in the first 2000 issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, and think it over.
A Must Have for any Olmec Enthusiast
The Olmec World is an amazing resource for those who study or have an appreciation of early Mesoamerican Art. At its most basic level The Olmec World is the catalogue of the 1996 Olmec Exhibition at the Art Museum at Princeton University the first comprehensive show of Olmec art in America. Drawing upon nearly all of the major Olmec museum collections in North America from Dunbarton Oaks to Princeton's own expansive holdings, the exhibition also drew heavily from many private collections never before shown to the general public. For instance, John Stokes' amazing collection of ceramic babies and jade masks are showcased in this catalogue. However, almost as impressive as the pictures are the essays in this collection. Michael Coe has done a marvelous job of soliticing and editing a myriad of papers on the mysterious Olmec.
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