Discovering Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations

Discovering Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations — page 5
DISCOVERING ANCIENT MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS and chili peppers were other early crops By 1500 BCE some Mesoamerican farmers were producing enough food that the people were ready to live a fully settled life The Mother Culture The Olmec The first great civilization in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmec These people settled along the hot humid coast of the Gulf of Mexico in what are today the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco By about 1200 BCE their simple farming villages had evolved into a civilization The Olmec built large towns where they came together to trade and hold reli gious ceremonies The most important were San Lorenzo La Venta and Tres Zapotes San Lorenzo the oldest site is famous for its The Venta extraordinary Olmec settlement of La stone on the Gulf coast of Mexico was monuments La Venta originally built on an island in the Tonalá River Today it is part is marked by great of a large swamp A 100 foot 30 meter high clay mound shaped like a fluted cone towers over the site Some archaeologists believe that it represents a volcano IO