Olmec Civilization and its History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Olmec Civilization and its history - Essay ExampleThe cultivation of the tribe is believed to be ended around 400 BC. The Olmec inhabited southerly Mexico and were regarded as the mother culture of the Americas. Their technology and culture influenced the preceding culture and technology. Sertima support for the Olmec illustrates the belief that they came forwards Columbus and should be considered as part of the ancient civilization of the Americas.In his book They Came before Columbus, Sertima argues that the Olmec were the branch face of civilization and influenced the technology and culture of America. The argument holds water as presented in the Olmec brand of pre-Columbian contact theory. The major claim presented by Sertima is the existence of African origin in the Mesoamerican culture in the western hemisphere. The theory asserts that the influence of the American culture in the Mesoamerican culture was monolithic and should be considered in the study of the ancient civil ization, which is becoming a complex process. He that added that the Kings of the twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt were Nubians (Diehl 82). This theory led to increasing need to research on the clarity and accuracy of the theory with moreover finding supporting and some discrediting the theory demonstrable by Sertima. The name Olmec means the rubber people in the Nahuatl language. Aztec is the name of the people who inhabited the area because they extracted latex from rubber trees.However the name was apply mistakenly by the Europeans by assigning the name to ancient ruins shew in the region. The ruling found was not of the Aztec civilization, but date before the civilization. The name also refers to the ancient ball game developed by the Olmec and considered the Olmec creation. The name used by the Olmec includes Xi which is similar to the Chinese names. The evidence of Olmec existence in America led to questions on their origin and argument arose. It was first thought that they originated from West Africa,but further evidence deduces that they were remnants from the Xia dynasty of China (Demarest 62).