La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum , which is in nearby Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco.
Overview The Olmec were one of the first civilizations to develop in the Americas. Chronologically, the history of the Olmecs can be divided into the Early Formative (1800-900 BCE), Middle Formative (900-400 BCE) and Late Formative (400 BCE-200AD). The Olmecs are known as the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica, meaning that the Olmec civilization was the first culture that spread and influenced Mesoamerica. The spread of Olmec culture eventually led to cultural features found throughout all Mesoamerican societies.
Rising from the sedentary agriculturalists of the Gulf Lowlands as early as 1600 BCE in the Early Formative period, the Olmecs held sway in the Olmec heartland, an area on the southern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain, in Veracruz and Tabasco. Prior to the site of La Venta, the first Olmec site of San Lorenzo dominated the modern day state of Veracruz (1200-900 BCE).
Roughly long and wide, with the Coatzalcoalcos River system running through the middle, the heartland is home to the major Olmec sites of La Venta, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, Laguna de los Cerros, and Tres Zapotes.
By no later than 1200 BCE, San Lorenzo had emerged as the most prominent Olmec center. While a layer of occupation at La Venta dates to 1200 BCE, La Venta did not reach its apogee until the decline of San Lorenzo, after 900 BCE. After 500 years of pre-eminence, La Venta was all but abandoned by the beginning of the fourth century BCE.
Located on an island in a coastal swamp overlooking a former river, the Río Palma, or Río Barí, La Venta probably controlled a region between the Mezcalapa and Coatzacoalcos rivers. The site itself is about inland at an elevation of less than 10 meters above sea level with the island consisting of slightly more than of dry land, resting on the largest alluvial plane in Mexico. The humid tropical climate of La Venta has an average annual temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and an average annual rainfall of 2,000 millimeters. La Venta is located at the nexus of four different ecosystems: marshes, mangrove swamps, tropical forest, and the Gulf of Mexico.
"There was a large resident population at the site, a number of specialists not dedicated to food production, and political, religious, economic, and/or military relations with other sites within its area of influence." Unfortunately, few, if any, of the residential structures surrounding the large centers of the city have survived. The main part of the site is a complex of clay constructions stretched out for in a north-south direction, although the site is oriented 8° west of north. The urbanized zone may have covered an area as large of 2 km2. This particular site layout is the way the city was from 600 – 400 BCE, which is when the final Olmec occupation occurred. This site is particularly fascinating because of its layout—not only does Complex A face within 8 degrees of true North, but the east and west sides of the site are almost identical, showing bilateral symmetry. This is perhaps related to religion (it’s fairly speculative, at this point) but it certainly shows a high level of sophistication and city-planning.
Unlike later Maya or Aztec cities, La Venta was built from earth and clay—there was little locally abundant stone for the construction. Large basalt stones were brought in from the Tuxtla Mountains, but these were used nearly exclusively for monuments including the colossal heads, the "altars" (actually thrones), and various stelae. For example, the basalt columns that surround Complex A were quarried from Punta Roca Partida, on the Gulf coast north of the San Andres Tuxtla volcano. "Little more than half of the ancient city survived modern disturbances enough to map accurately." Today, the entire southern end of the site is covered by a petroleum refinery and has been largely demolished, making excavations difficult or impossible. Many of the site's monuments are now on display in the archaeological museum and park in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco.
Major features of La Venta
La Venta was a civic and ceremonial center. While it may have included as-yet-undiscovered regal residences, habitation for the non-regal elite and the commoners were located at outlying sites such as San Andrés. Instead of dwellings, La Venta is dominated by a restricted sacred area (Complex A), the Great Pyramid (Complex C), and the large plaza to their south.
As a ceremonial center, La Venta contains an elaborate series of buried offerings and tombs, as well as monumental sculptures. These stone monuments, stelae, and "altars" were carefully distributed amongst the mounds and platforms. The mounds and platforms were built largely from local sands and clays. It is assumed that many of these platforms were once topped with wooden structures, which have long since disappeared.
Complex C (The Great Pyramid) Complex C, "The Great Pyramid," is the central building in the city layout, is constructed almost entirely out of clay, and is visible from a distance. The structure is built on top of a closed-in platform—this is where Blom and La Farge discovered Altars 2 and 3, thereby discovering La Venta and the Olmec civilization. A carbon sample from a burned area of the Structure C-1's surface resulted in the date of 394 ± 30 BCE.
One of the earliest pyramids known in Mesoamerica, the Great Pyramid is high and contains an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of earth fill. The current conical shape of the pyramid was once thought to represent nearby volcanoes or mountains, but recent work by Rebecca Gonzalez-Lauck has shown that the pyramid was in fact a rectangular pyramid with stepped sides and inset corners, and the current shape is most likely due to 2,500 years of erosion. The pyramid itself has never been excavated, but a magnetometer survey in 1967 found an anomaly high on the south side of the pyramid. Speculation ranges from a section of burned clay to a cache of buried offerings to a tomb.
Complex A Complex A is a mound and plaza group located just to the north of the Great Pyramid (Complex C). The centerline of Complex A originally oriented to Polaris (true north) which indicates the Olmec had some knowledge of astronomy. Surrounded by a series of basalt columns, which likely restricted access to the elite, it was erected in a period of four construction phases that span over four centuries (1000 – 600 BCE). Beneath the mounds and plazas were found a vast array of offerings and other buried objects, more than 50 separate caches by one count, including buried jade, polished mirrors made of iron-ores, and five large "Massive Offerings" of serpentine blocks. It is estimated that Massive Offering 3 contains 50 tons of carefully finished serpentine blocks, covered by 4,000 tons of clay fill.
Also unearthed in Complex A were three rectangular mosaics (also known as "Pavements") each roughly and each consisting of up to 485 blocks of serpentine. These blocks were arranged horizontally to form what has been variously interpreted as an ornate Olmec bar-and-four-dots motif, the Olmec Dragon, a very abstract jaguar mask, a cosmogram, or a symbolic map of La Venta and environs. Not intended for display, soon after completion these pavements were covered over with colored clay and then many feet of earth.
Five formal tombs were discovered within Complex A, one with a sandstone sarcophagus carved with what seemed to be an crocodilian earth monster. Diehl states that these tombs "are so elaborate and so integrated to the architecture that it seems clear that Complex A really was a mortuary complex dedicated to the spirits of deceased rulers".
Other notable artifacts within Complex A include: Monument 19. This relief sculpture is the earliest known example of the feathered serpent in Mesoamerica. Offering 4.
Complex B South of the Great Pyramid lies Complex B. Whereas Complex A was apparently restricted to the elite, the plaza of Complex B seems to be built specifically for large public gatherings. This plaza is just south of the Great Pyramid, east of the Complex B platforms, and west of the huge raised platform referred to as the Stirling Acropolis, named after Matthew Stirling, the archaeologist who first surveyed La Venta in the 1940s. This plaza is nearly long and over wide. A small platform is situated in the center of the plaza.
This layout has led researchers to propose that the platforms surrounding the plaza functioned as stages where ritual drama was enacted for viewers within the plaza. These rituals were likely related to the "altars", monuments, and the stelae surrounding and within the plaza. These monuments, including Colossal Head 1 (Monument 1), were of such a large size and were placed in such a position that they could convey their messages to many viewers at once. The case has also been made that the monumental art itself recount a creation narrative.
Complex E Though there are not any actual houses remaining in this area, or anywhere at La Venta, according to Rebecca Gonzalez-Lauck, "a chemical evaluation of the soil revealed unusual concentrations of phosphate, indicating the possibility it had been a residential zone."
Summary The arrangement of the mounds, platforms, complexes, and monumental artifacts at La Venta created a unique civil and ceremonial center that, in the words of Rebecca Gonzalez-Lauck, constitutes "one of the earliest examples of large-scale ideological communications through the interaction of architecture and sculpture".
Images of the archaeological site of La VentaMonuments 2 and 3 in Complex AMonument 4Stela 1Reproduction of stela 5Reproduction of stela in Complex CReproduction of the Monument 25-26Monument 13
Monumental artifacts at La Venta
Colossal heads Certainly the most famous of the La Venta monumental artifacts are the four colossal heads. Seventeen colossal heads have been unearthed in the Olmec area, four of them at La Venta, officially named Monuments 1 through 4.
Three of the heads—Monuments 2, 3, and 4—were found roughly 150 meters north of Complex A, which is itself just north of the Great Pyramid. These heads were in a slightly irregular row, facing north. The other colossal head—Monument 1 (shown at left) – is a few dozen meters south of the Great Pyramid.
The La Venta heads are thought to have been carved by 700 BCE, but possibly as early as 850 BCE, while the San Lorenzo heads are credited to an earlier period. The colossal heads can measure up to in height and weigh several tons. The sheer size of the stones causes a great deal of speculation on how the Olmec were able to move them. The major basalt quarry for the colossal heads at La Venta was found at Cerro Cintepec in the Tuxtla Mountains, over 80 km away.
Each of the heads wears headgear reminiscent of 1920s-style American football helmets, although each is unique in its decoration. The consensus is that the heads likely represent mighty Olmec rulers.
Altars 4 & 5 Seven basalt "altars" were found at La Venta, including Altar 4 and Altar 5. These altars, roughly 2 meters high and twice as wide, feature an elaborately dressed and sculpted figure on the center front.
The figure on Altar 4 is sitting inside what appears to be a cave or the mouth of a fantastic creature, holding a rope which wraps around the base of the altar to his right and left. On the left side, the rope is connected to a seated bas-relief figure. The right side is eroded away but is thought to be similar to the scene on the left.