Introduction

Reconstructing Olmec life and culture from archaeological remains is a well-nigh impossible task. Since they left no written records, we do not even know what language they spoke, although arguments have been made for both Mayan (Coe 1968: 117-121) and Mixezoquean (Campbell and Kaufman 1967). The San Lorenzo Olmec must have been a supremely religious people, judging from their carved monuments, figurines, and carved pottery; but what this religious system was, how they thought of their gods, and what rites they practiced will probably always remain a mystery. Above and beyond the evanescent mental culture, which has almost disappeared without a trace, one has only to consider the extremely poor conditions of preservation at San Lorenzo to gasp how little of the material culture is left for study. On the basis of representations in stone and clay, they must have had magnificent textiles. Baskets and cordage have also gone forever. Much of their chipped stone, and some of their ground stone, technology appears to have been used in working wood; quite probably they had wooden bowls, spears, knife handles, and so on, and it is likely that much of their sculptures and other religious paraphernalia was of wood. For all we know, they could have had totem poles!