An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

In this dissertation, I use the term “Olmec paradigm” as a descriptor for a set of
theoretical assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that have been used to constitute
how the Formative people of the Southern Gulf Lowlands viewed and experienced their
reality. Components of this paradigm are discussed in detail later in this chapter. The
latest findings from El Marquesillo and other Heartland settlements suggest that the
traditionally proposed sociopolitical paradigm was not homogeneous and uniform across
the region but instead, appears to have been a malleable template that could be selectively
employed by local elite leaders to meet the demands of their constituency.
The significance of these findings is due to the fact that the Olmec have been used
repeatedly as a theoretical exemplar for incipient and emergent social complexity and
culture progress. Thus, apparent non-conformity to the hypothesized social patterns and
behavioral archetypes requires that a number of these theories be re-evaluated in the light
of new evidence. A review of the impediments involved in attempting to simply
determine a definition of the term Olmec provides a point of departure from which to
begin an assessment of the Olmec social paradigm.
The term “Olmec” is an archaeological convention that has been variously
employed as a descriptor for an art style (de la Fuente 2000; Pohorilenko 1996), a
Formative period (c. 1500- 300 BC) ethnic group (Diehl 2004; Stark 2000), a set of
religious iconographic symbols (Feder 2007), a temporal phase (Arnold 2003b; Taube
2004), a suite of cultural practices (Pye and Clark 2000), a Postclassic period (c. AD
1200-1500) native society (Coe 1965; Scholes and Warren 1965), and a geographic
culture area (Coe 1989; Lowe 1989). Thus, it is not surprising to find that
misunderstanding, confusion, and debates over the term have continued unabated since
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