Cult of beauty - Minerva

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Tigris and Euphrates, Nile, Indus and
Yellow River areas, with good soil and
regular supplies of water contributing
to high populations. Over time this led
to the rise of elites, craft specialisation,
and cities. Corn was an important element
in the diet (Fig 10), and a variety
of local animals were used as food
(Fig 7). Imported luxury goods also
became an important way for elites to
express status. At the same time objects
of Olmec culture must have also been
traded long distances in exchange for
such items as cacao and greenstone
(Fig 10). Artistic representations show
that males played a dominant role,
but there are some representations of
females (Figs 5, 8). As a rule, men of
this period were portrayed with intentional
cranial deformation, with heads
of a pear shape, a down-turned mouth
and slit eyes.
With clean simple lines, otherworldly
expressions, and a range of strange looking
adornments, Olmec art has even inspired
suggestions of an extra-terrestrial connection
Fig 3. Small arkose
stone feline figure,
from Loma del
Zapote-El Azuzul,
1200–900 BC, Museo
de Antropologia de
Xalapa).
H. 110cm. 3/3.
Fig 4. Monumental
stone head at La
Venta, Tabasco State.
© Richard Hewitt
Stewart/National
Geographic Stock.
Fig 5. Basalt stela of
a female figure, La
Venta, 900–400 BC.
The face of this figure,
unlike the colossal
heads, is naturalistic.
It is uncertain if it
represented a human
or divine figure.
Parque-Museo de La
Venta (PMV–033).
The first large city, San Lorenzo,
grew to more than 700 hectares (1700
acres). It was largely abandoned by
1000 BC, but it is still an open question
as to why this happened. Theories
range from invasions to ecological
changes such as drought. However, at
the same time as many monuments
were defaced in San Lorenzo, the site
La Venta grew in prominence. The
artistic canon at La Venta was slightly
different, with elite males represented
with a slanted forehead and a flattened
back of the head. La Venta lasted
until about 400 BC, and boasted what
at the time was the largest structure
in Mesoamerica, a pyramid that rises
some 34m above the plain. After La
Venta was abandoned, the population
of the region declined. It has been suggested
that tectonic changes, or natural
silting, led to changes in watercourses
that made large-scale farming difficult.
This remained the case until well into
the 19 th century.
During the late 19 th and early
20 th centuries, ‘Olmec’ objects were
found on the art market, but no one
was aware of their chronological
Minerva May/June 2011 39
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