La Venta
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"The Grandmother", La Venta (reproduction) |
La Venta is the name of a
Pre-Columbian archaeological site of the
Olmec civilization. The site is located in the
Mexican state of
Tabasco at .
The Olmec civilization was prominent in
Mesoamerica from as early as 1500
BCE through 400 BCE. The Olmec heartland is an area on the south coast of the
Gulf of Mexico coastal plain of southern
Veracruz and
Tabasco about 125 miles long and 50 miles wide (200 by 80 km), with the
Coatzalcoalcos River system running through the middle. Olmec sites include
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, Laguna de los Cerros, and
Tres Zapotes. La Venta is one of the greatest of the Olmec sites.
La Venta is dated to between 1200 BCE and 400 BCE with its greatest prominence coming after 900 BCE during the
Middle Formative Period. The city was all but abandoned by the beginning of the fourth century BCE.
[Diehl, p. 81]Located on an island in a coastal swamp overlooking the then-active Río Palma river, the city of La Venta probably controlled a region between the Mezcalapa and Coatzacoalcos rivers. The site itself is about 10 miles inland with the island consisting of slightly more than 2 square miles of dry land. The main part of the site is a complex of clay constructions stretched out for 12 miles in a North-South direction, although the site is 8° west of north. The urbanized zone may have covered an area as large of 200
hectares.
Unlike later
Maya or
Aztec cities, there was little locally abundant stone for the construction of La Venta, and therefore nearly all structures were built from earth or clay. Large basalt stones were brought in from the
Tuxtla mountains, but these were used nearly exclusively for monuments including the colossal heads, the "altars", and various
stelae. For example, the basalt columns that surround Complex A were quarried from Punta Roca Partida, on the
Gulf coast north of the San Andres Tuxtla volcano.
[Coe et al., p 95.]Today, the entire southern end of the site is covered by a
petroleum refinery and has been largely demolished, making excavations difficult or impossible. Many of the site's monuments are now on display in the archaeological
museum and park in the city of
Villahermosa, Tabasco (photos of park).
In its heyday, La Venta was a monumental center that contained an elaborate series of buried offerings and tombs as well as monumental sculptures similar to those found at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, perhaps the most well known of the Olmec sites. It is calculated that the site supported a population of at least 18,000 people during its principal occupation.
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The Olmec Heartland, showing La Venta. |
The major features of the site at La Venta are Complex A and the Great Pyramid (officially known as Complex C which consists of Mounds C-1 through C-5). One of the earliest pyramids known in Mesoamerica, the Great Pyramid is a huge clay pyramid 110 ft (33 m) high containing an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of earth fill. The current conical shape of the pyramid was once thought to represent nearby volcanoes or mountains, but recent work by Rebecca Gonzalez-Lauck has shown that the pyramid was in fact a rectangular pyramid with stepped sides and inset corners, and the current shape is probably due to 2500 years of erosion. The pyramid itself has never been excavated, but a
magnetometer survey in 1967 found an anomaly high on the south side of the pyramid. Speculation ranges from a section of burned clay to a cache of buried offerings to a tomb.
Complex A is a mound and plaza group located just to the north of the Great Pyramid. Surrounded by a series of basalt columns, it was erected in a period of 4 construction phases that span over 4 centuries. Beneath the mounds and plazas were found a vast array of offerings and other buried objects including buried jade
celts, polished mirrors made of iron-ores, and large mosaic offerings made of
serpentine blocks. Most of these serpentine blocks were found in 3 large pits, known as the Massive Offerings. It is estimated that Massive Offering 3 contains 50 tons of carefully finished serpentine blocks, covered by 4000 tons of clay fill.
[Heizer, p. 10.] Also unearthed were 4 rectangular pavements each roughly 15 ft × 20 ft and each consisting of about 485 blocks of serpentine. The mosaics are in what is thought to be the form of an abstract
jaguar mask, a common theme in Olmec art. Soon after completion, these pavements were covered over with colored clay and then many feet of earth.
Five formal tombs were discovered within Complex A. Diehl states that these tombs "are so elaborate and so integrated to the architecture that it seems clear that Complex A really was a mortuary complex dedicated to the spirits of deceased rulers".
[Diehl, p.70.]Colossal heads
It is clear that the Olmecs were a knowledgeable and artistic people, as is evident by the many monuments and sculptures they have left behind. The site of La Venta itself included floors of different colored clays and platforms painted in red, yellow, and purple. Throughout this city of color were a large number of monuments sculptured from basalt. Perhaps the most intriguing of the monuments are the four colossal heads. Seventeen colossal heads have been unearthed, 4 of them at La Venta (officially described as Monuments 1 through 4).
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Olmec stone head from La Venta (now in Villahermosa) |
Three of the heads were found roughly 150 meters north of Complex A, which is itself just north of the Great Pyramid. These heads were in a slightly irregular row, facing north. The other colossal head is a few dozen meters south of the Great Pyramid.
The La Venta heads are thought to have been carved by 700 BCE, but possibly as early as 850 BCE, while the San Lorenzo heads are credited to an earlier period. The colossal heads can measure up to 9 ft 4 in. in height and weigh several tons. The sheer size of the stones causes a great deal of speculation on how the Olmecs moved them. The major basalt quarry for the colossal heads at La Venta was found at Cerro Cintepec in the Tuxtla Mountains, over 80 km away.
[Coe et al., p 95.]Each of the heads wears headgear resembling 1920-style American football helmets, although each is unique in its decoration. These helmets probably served as protection in war and in the ceremonial
Mesoamerican ballgame played throughout Mesoamerica. The
consensus is that the heads represent mighty Olmec rulers or famous ballplayers, or both.
The flat-faced, thick-lipped characteristics of the heads have caused much debate about their resemblance to
African characteristics. Some insist that the Olmecs were African. Others have said it is possible that the heads were carved this way reflecting the shallow space allowed on the basalt boulders, and not the actual appearance of the people. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and thick lips, the heads have the asian eye-fold, and that all these characteristics are still found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. In the
1940s artist/art historian
Miguel Covarrubias published a series of photos of Olmec artworks and of the faces of modern Mexican Indians with very similar facial characteristics.
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A corner view of Altar 4 at La Venta |
Altar 4
The site also included several "altars" of
basalt, the most familiar being
Altar 4. Altar 4 represents a figure, probably a ruler or shaman dressed in an elaborate headdress and sitting inside what appears to be a cave. The figure is holding on to a rope, which wraps around the base of the altar to his
right side where it is tied to a seated figure. The left side is eroded away but is thought to be similar to the scene on the right.
The consensus today is that these "altars" are thrones on which the Olmec rulers were seated during important rituals or ceremonies. This leads many researchers to interpret the figure at the front as a ruler, who is contacting or being helped by his ancestors, the figures on either side of the altar. Alternatively, some believe the side figures to be bound captives.
La Venta was found and excavated by
Matthew Stirling between
1941 and
1943, with several subsequent excavations following through the
1960s. Stirling is sometimes credited with identifying the Olmec civilization; although some Olmec sites and monuments had been known earlier, it was Stirling's work that put the Olmec culture into context.
Offering 4 at La Venta*Coe, Michael; Snow, Dean; Benson, Elizabeth;
Atlas of Ancient America; Facts on File, New York, 1986.
*Diehl, Richard A. (2004)
The Olmecs: America's First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London.
*Heizer, Robert F. (1967) "New Observations on La Venta", in
in Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec'', Dumbarton Oaks, Washingon, D.C.
*
The DeLanges visit La Venta - photos of Complex A
