Abstract

QUESADA GARCIA, Octavio. From Olmec iconology to the Mesoamerican worldview. Inter disciplina [online]. 2023, vol.11, n.31, pp.273-293.  Epub Nov 10, 2023. ISSN 2448-5705.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ceiich.24485705e.2023.31.84001.

It is generally accepted that the Olmec culture was the first Mesoamerican civilization (1500-1 B.C.), and that the acquisition of their knowledge and beliefs by subsequent societies would have catalyzed their own social transformation and development, leading to the Late Formative, Classic, and Post-Classic Mesoamerican periods (ca. 500 B. C.-1500 A. D.). However, the Olmec cosmological and Cosmogonic conceptions are practically unknown. The purpose of this research was to formally analyze and describe a large sample of Olmec divine images, as a way of access to the underlying thinking. To do so, a large sample of Olmec archaeological pieces (n = 1,531), considered representations of gods or entities related with the divine realm was documented, regardless of the scale, technique or support utilized. A quantitative analyses was carried out on the natures present, either alone or fused into a single figure, an Olmec and Mesoamerican feature to express divinity. The iconographic results showed wide coherence with the Cosmogonic hypothesis (Bonifaz 1986), which is proposed as the most likely iconological explanation for the sacred Olmec universe; they also suggest ideological-cultural unity among Olmec and all those Mesoamerican cultures who shared the same communication system of the divine realm, including its paramount representation: Tlaloc.

Keywords : Middle America; Olmec iconography; Olmec iconology; Olmec thinking.

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