The Olmecs Mask, 10th–6th century B.C. Mexico; Olmec Jadeite; Overall: 6 3/4 x 6 5/16 x 6 5/16 in. (17.1 x 16 x 16 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Source: Wikipedia. 1- Who were the Olmecs? The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Mexico . They lived in the tropical lowlands on the Gulf of Mexico in the present-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco . The name Olmec is a Nahuatl —the Aztec language —word; it means the " rubber people ". The Olmecs might have been the first people to figure out how to convert latex of the rubber tree into something that could be shaped, cured, and hardened. Because the Olmecs did not have much writing beyond a handful of carved glyphs —symbols—that survived, we don't know what name the Olmec people gave themselves. Appearing around 1600 BCE, the Olmecs were among the first Mesoamerican complex societies , and their culture influenced many later civilizations, like t he Maya . ...
