What was found at El Manati?
Twelve rubber balls associated with axe offerings were found El Manatí in 1989. Their surprisingly excellent state of preservation led archeologists to suspect that the balls had received a vulcanization type process, and it was found that the balls were made of two types of vulcanized latex.
What is El Manati Olmec?
El Manatí is an archaeological site located approximately 60 km south of Coatzacoalcos, in the municipality of Hidalgotitlán 27 kilometers southeast of Minatitlan in the Mexican state of Veracruz. El Manatí was the site of a sacred Olmec sacrificial bog from roughly 1600 BCE until 1200 BCE.
What perishable material culture was recovered from the waterlogged deposits at El manatí?
Olmec artefact
The twenty wooden busts recovered by villagers and archaeologists at El Manatí represent the only known examples of this type of Olmec artefact. Generally speaking, neither the art market nor archaeology has produced wooden Olmec sculptures prior to 1989[2].
What are the common types of Olmec figurines?
- Baby-face figurines.
- Elongated man.
- “Were-jaguar” motif.
- Transformation figures.
- Naturalistic figurines.
- Dwarf or fetal-style figurines.
- Gallery.
- See also.
Did the Olmecs believe in life after death?
The common people lived separately from those kings and families, and they made their money from the farmlands. The Olmec believed on life after death, or afterlife.
How many Olmec heads have been found?
17
To date, 17 colossal Olmec heads have been discovered in various locations associated with the ancient Olmec civilisations; ten (thought to be the oldest) were found in San Lorenzo, Veracruz, four in La Venta, Tabasco, two in Tres Zapotes, Veracruz and one in La Cobata.
What kind of artifacts were found at El Manati?
El Manatí and other Olmec heartland archaeological sites. Many artifacts have been found, among them wooden busts and rubber balls. Of particular note are 37 wooden busts or sculptures recovered from the bogs in 1989 by INAH archaeologists, during the third excavation phase at El Manatí.
Why was El Manati chosen as a sacred place?
El Manati may have been chosen as a sacred place because of one or more of its natural features: The presence of a natural spring, often a feature of Mesoamerican sacred sites. The presence of red pigment, likely hematite, which symbolized blood. Its location at the foot of a hill, Cerro Manatí.
Where is El Manati in San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan?
The site. El Manatí is located at the foot of Cerro Manatí, some 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of the major Olmec center of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. It is notable among Olmec sites for the absence of contemporaneous local ceremonial or domestic architecture.
Are there any Olmec figurines that have survived?
Olmec figurine. Most of these recoveries are mere fragments: a head, arm, torso, or a leg. It is thought, based on wooden busts recovered from the water-logged El Manati site, that figurines were also carved from wood, but, if so, none have survived.