Olmec alternative origin speculations

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A jade Olmec mask. Gordon Ekholm, who was an eminent archaeologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, suggested that the Olmec art style might have originated in Bronze Age China.^[1]

In part because the Olmecs developed the first Mesoamerican civilization and in part because so little is known of the Olmecs (relative, for example, to the Maya or Aztec), a wide number of Olmec alternative origin speculations have been put forth. Although several of these speculations, particularly "Olmec as Africans", have become well-known within popular culture, they are not considered credible by the vast majority of Mesoamerican researchers.

[edit] Olmec as Africans

See also: Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories

Some writers claim that the Olmec were related to peoples of Africa based primarily on their interpretation of facial features of Olmec statues. They additionally contend that skeletal, genetic, and epigraphic evidence supports their claims. Some, such as Ivan Van Sertima and Clyde Ahmad Winters have specifically identify the Olmecs with the Mandé people of West Africa^[2].

The idea that the Olmecs are related to Africans was suggested by José Melgar, who discovered the first colossal head at Hueyapan (now Tres Zapotes) in 1862 and subsequently published two papers that attributed this head to a "Negro race".^[3] The view was espoused in the early 20th century by Leo Wiener and others.^[4].

[edit] Osteological evidence

Some researchers have seen evidence for African skeletons at prehistoric sites in Mexico. Constance Irwin and Andrez Wiercinski (1972b) have both reported that skeletal remains with African characteristics have been found in Mexico. Irwin, in Fair Gods and Stone Faces, says that there are "distinct signs of Negroid ancestry in many a New World skull.". Wiercinski claims that some of the Olmecs were of African origin^[5]. He supports this claim with cranial evidence from two Mesoamerican sites: Tlatilco and Cerro de las Mesas.

• Tlatilco is a site in the Valley of Mexico. Although outside the Olmec heartland, Olmec influences appear in the architectural record. The crania were from the Pre-Classic period, contemporary with the Olmec.
• Cerro de las Mesa is within the Olmec heartland, although according to Wiercinski, "the series . . . is dated on the Classic period."^[6] The Classic period is generally defined to start around AD 250, or 600 years after the end of the Olmec culture.

To determine the racial heritage of the skeletons, Wiercinski used classic diagnostic traits, determined by craniometric and cranioscopic methods, as well as the Polish Comparative-Morphological School skeletal reference collection. These measurements were then compared against three crania sets from Poland, Mongolia and Uganda to represent three racial categories,^[7][8][9] which allowed Wiercinski to sort each skull into one or more racial categories.

In his conclusion, Wiercinski presented his findings:^[10]

Based on his comparisons, Wiercinski found that 14% of the skeletons from Tlatilco and 4.5% of the skeletons from Cerro de las Mesas had elements of "Black" racial composition.

In the last section of his paper, Wiercinski compared the physiognomy of the skeletons to corresponding examples of Olmec sculptures and bas-reliefs on the stelas. For example, Wiercinski states that the colossal Olmec heads represent the "Dongolan" type.^[14] The empirical frequencies of the Dongolan type at Tlatilco calculated by Wiercinski was 0.231, more than twice as high as Wiercinski's theoretical figure of 0.101, for the presence of Dongolans at Tlatilco.

Wiercinski summarizes his research by offering the following "ethnogenetical hypotheses":^[15]

• The indigenous rootstock of Tlatilco and Cerro de las Mesas consists of "Ainoid, Arctic, and Pacific racial elements".
• "A next migratory wave" brought in additional Pacific as well as "Laponoid" elements.
• "Some Chinese influence of Shang Period could penetrate Mesoamerica"
• "A strange transatlantic, more or less sporadic migration" brought Armenoid, Equatorial, and Bushmenoid elements.

Wiercinski's research methods and conclusions are not accepted by the vast majority of Mesoamerican scholars, in part because of his reliance on the Polish Comparative-Morphological methodology.

San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan Colossal Head 6, a 3 meter high sculpture with lips and nose said to resemble African facial features.

[edit] Genetic evidence

According to some researchers, contemporary Maya and other Amerind groups show African characteristics and DNA. The paper by Green et al (2000) states:

James l. Guthrie (2000), an industrial chemist, in a study of the HLAs in indigenous American populations noted that A*28 common among Africans has high frequencies among Eastern Maya. It is interesting to note that the Otomi, a Mexican indigenous group and six Mayan groups show the B Allele of the ABO system^[17] which is found in Siberia and east Asia^[18] The use of mtDNA and Y-chromosome uses sections that are not adaptive so that mutation and thus the distributions are due to random occurrences. HLAs however depend on what exposure the populations have been exposed to. If different populations are exposed to the same infections, they will end up with similar HLAs even though then may not be related or ever in contact.

Lisker et al (1996), noted that “The variation of Indian ancestry among the studied Indians shows in general a higher proportion in the more isolated groups, except for the Cora, who are as isolated as the Huichol and have not only a lower frequency but also a certain degree of black admixture. The black admixture is difficult to explain because the Cora reside in a mountainous region away from the west coast”. Green et al also found indigenous natives with African genes in North Central Mexico, including the L1 and L2 clusters. Green et al observed that the "discovery of a proportion of African haplotypes roughly equivalent to the proportion of European haplotypes [among North Central Mexican Indians] cannot be explained by recent admixture of African Americans from the United States. This is especially the case for the Ojinaga area, which presently is, and historically has been, largely isolated from U.S. African Americans. However this does not rule out mixing of African genes during colonial times from African or African/Indian settlers in north Mexico. The census of 1793 shows that there were more African/Indian "mestizos" in northern Mexico than Europeans ^[19]. In the Ojinaga sample set, the frequency of African haplotypes was higher than that of European hyplotypes”. However, the frequency of European haplotypes in the Juarez sample set was larger than the Ojinaga sample set, and, in any case, as can be seen in the quote above, neither sample exceeded 6%. In a discussion of the Mexican and African admixture in Mexico, Lisker et al noted that the east coast of Mexico had extensive admixture. The following percentages of African ancestry were found among East coast populations: Paraiso - 21.7%; El Carmen - 28.4%; Veracruz - 25.6%; Saladero - 30.2%; and Tamiahua - 40.5%. Among Indian groups, Lisker et al found among the Chontal have 5% and the Cora .8% African admixture. However, this mixing took place during colonial times since these populations also have a even greater European mixture: Paraiso-30.9%, El Carmen- 28.4, Veracruz-35.0%,Saladero-31.2% and Tamiahua- 28.8%^[20].The Chontal speak a Mayan language. According to Crawford et al. (1974), the mestizo population of Saltillo has 15.8% African ancestry, while Tlaxcala has 8% and Cuanalan 18.1%.^[21] In the Olmec heartland region of the current states of Veracruz and Tabasco, Lisker et al^[22] finds these percentages of African ancestry: Paraiso - 21.7%  ; El Carmen - 28.4% ; Veracruz - 25.6% ; Saladero - 30.2% ; Tamiahua - 40.5% and European ancestry percentages of Paraiso-30.9%, El Carmen- 28.4, Veracruz-35.0%,Saladero-31.2% and Tamiahua- 28.8% These present-day areas are in the ancient Olmec heartland. However, the same region is also where people of African ancestry arrived during Spanish colonial times (from about 1500 on as slaves and soldiers, and intermixed with both the Spanish and indigenous peoples.^[23] In the Native Amerindian populations, Lisker only had one finding of 5% African admixture in a Chontal native and the other of .08% African admixture in a Cora native. All other Cora, Chontal and Huichol tested negative for any Admixture. The Huichol have broad features as seen in the Olmec statues.

[edit] Epigraphic evidence

Some researchers claim that the Mesoamerican writing systems are related to African scripts. In the early 19th century, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque proposed that the Mayan inscriptions were probably related to the Libyco-Berber writing of Africa.^[24] Leo Wiener^[25] and others claim that various Olmec and Epi-Olmec symbols are similar to those found in the Vai script, in particular, the symbols on the Tuxtla Statuette, Teo Mask ^[26], Cascajal Block,^[27] and the celts in Offering 4 at La Venta.

These assertions have found no support among Mesoamerican researchers. While mainstream scholars have made significant progress translating the Maya script, these researchers have yet to translate Olmec glyphs.

[edit] Olmec as Chinese

Some researchers have argued that the Olmec civilization came into existence with the help of Chinese refugees, particularly at the end of the Shang dynasty.^[28] In 1975, Betty Meggers of the Smithsonian Institution argued that the Olmec civilization originated due to Shang Chinese influences around 1200 BC.^[29] In a 1996 book, Mike Xu, with the aid of Chen Hanping, claimed that the very same La Venta celts that were interpreted as bearing Vai symbols (discussed above) actually bore Chinese characters.^[30][31] These claims are unsupported by mainstream Mesoamerican researchers.^[32]

In 1996, Rebecca Haydenblit examined the dental traits of the Tlatilco remains discussed above as well as remains from three pre-Hispanic (but non-Olmec-related) sites and found that 73% had sundadontal dental patterns (i.e. characteristic of Southeast Asian) while 27% had sinodontal patterns (i.e. characteristic of Northeast Asia, e.g. Chinese and Siberia).^[33]

[edit] Olmec as Jaredites

See also: Archaeology and the Book of Mormon

This bearded, aquiline-nosed man from La Venta Stela 3, also known as "Uncle Sam",^[34] has been cited by alternative origin advocates as evidence of non-hemispheric visitors.

Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have suggested that the Olmecs may be the Jaredites described in the Book of Mormon because of alleged similarities in the Olmec archaeological record.

Mormon researcher John L. Sorenson has furthered this theory in his writings, particularly in his 1996 book An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. In a 1992 article, Sorenson states:

• "[La Venta] was one of the great centers of Olmec civilization, whose distribution and dates remind us of Jaredite society."
  
• "[Stela 3] is thought to date to about 600 B.C., or a little later, at or just after the late Olmec (Jaredite?) inhabitants abandoned the site." ^[35] Sorenson also asserts that the bearded "prominent man" depicted on Stela 3 "appears to a number of (non-Mormon) art historians like a Jew".^[36]

As evidence against a Jaredite origin, critics counter that the Book of Mormon mentions things that are known not to have been part of the Olmec culture, such as iron, silk, and elephants. The "Olmec as Jaredites" speculation is not supported by any aspect of conventional Mesoamerican scholarship.

[edit] Olmecs as Nordics

According to Michael Coe, explorer and cultural diffusionist Thor Heyerdahl claimed that least some of the Olmec leadership had Nordic ancestry, a view at least partly inspired by the bearded figure, often referred to as "Uncle Sam" (see right), carved into La Venta Stela 3:

"The presence of Uncle Sam inspired Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer and author of ‘’Kon Tiki,’’ among others to claim a Nordic ancestry for at least some of the Olmec leadership. . . [However], it is extremely misleading to use the testimony of artistic representations to prove ethnic theories. The Olmec were American Indians, not Negroes (as Melgar had thought) or Nordic supermen."^[37]

[edit] Mainstream scientific consensus

The great majority of scholars who specialise in Mesoamerican history, archaeology and linguistics remain unconvinced by these speculations.^[38] Others are more critical and regard the promotion of such unfounded theories as a form of ethnocentric racism at the expense of indigenous Americans. The consensus view maintained across publications in peer-reviewed mainstream academic journals that are concerned with Mesoamerican and pre-Columbian research is that the Olmec and their achievements arose from influences and traditions that were wholly indigenous to the region, or at least the New World, and there is no undisputed material evidence to suggest otherwise.^[39] They, and their neighbouring cultures with whom they had contact, developed their own characters which were founded entirely on a remarkably interlinked and ancient cultural and agricultural heritage that was locally shared, but arose quite independently of any extra-hemispheric influences.^[40]

[edit] See also

• Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Aguirre Beltrán, Gonzalo (1972). La población negra de México: Estudio etnohistórico, 2nd edition, with corrections and expansions, México D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica. OCLC 781507.  (Spanish)
• Alchina-France,J. (1985). Los origenes de America, Madrid:Editorial Alhambra.
• Bernal,I. (1969). The Olmec World. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Clark, J.E. & Pye, M.E. (Ed.). (2000). Olmec Art and Archaeology in MesoAmerica. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art.
• Coe, Michael D. (1968) America's First Civilization, Discovering the Olmec, Van Nostrand.
• Cuevas, Marco P. Hernadez (2004). African Mexicans and the discourse on Modern Mexico. University Press, Oxford.
• Diehl, R.A., (2004) The Olmecs: America’s First Civilization, New York: Thames & Hudson.
• Green, L.D., (2000), "Mitochondrial DNA affinities of the people of North-Central Mexico", American Journal of Human Genetics, 66:989-998.
• Haydenblit, Rebecca (1996) "Dental variation among four Prehispanic Mexican populations" in American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] vol. 100, pp. 225–246.
• Grove, David C. (1976) "Olmec Origins and Transpacific Diffusion: Reply to Meggers", American Anthropologist, vol 78, no 3, p. 634 - 637.
• Gutherie, J. (1996). The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership. Princeton University: University of Princeton Press.
• MacLachlan, C.M. & Rodriguez O, J.E., The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico, University of California Press (1980)
• Marquez, C. (1956). Estudios arqueologicas y ethnograficas. Mexico.
• Meggers, Betty (1975) "The Transpacific Origin of Mesoamerican Civilization", American Anthropologist, vol 77, pp. 1-27.
• Melgar, Jose (1869) "Antigüedades mexicanas, notable escultura antigua", in Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, época 2, vol. 1, pp. 292-297, Mexico.
• Melgar, Jose (1871) "Estudio sobre la antigüedad y el origen de la Cabeza Colosal de tipo etiópico que existe en Hueyapan del cantón de los Tuxtlas" in Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, época 2, vol. 3, pp. 104-109; Mexico.
• Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard; Haslip-Viera, Gabriel; Barbour, Warren (1997) "They Were NOT Here before Columbus: Afrocentric Hyperdiffusionism in the 1990s", Ethnohistory, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Spring, 1997), pp. 199-234.
• Pool, Christopher A. (2007). Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78882-3. 
• Rensberger, B. ( September, 1988). "Black kings of ancient America", Science Digest, 74-77 and 122.
• Salas, Antonio; Richards, Martin; Lareu, María-Victoria; Scozzari, Rosaria; Coppa, Alfredo; Torroni, Antonio; Macaulay, Vincent; Carracedo, Ángel; (2004) "The African Diaspora: Mitochondrial DNA and the Atlantic Slave Trade", American Journal of Human Genetics; March 2004; 74(3): p. 454–465.
• Sorenson, John L. (1992) "When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?", The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, accessed April 2007.
• Stirling, Matthew (1967) "Early History of the Olmec Problem", in Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec, E. Benson, ed., Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
• Taube, Karl (2004), "The Origin and Development of Olmec Research", in Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
• Underhill, P.A., Jin, L., Zemans, R., Oefner, J. and Cavalli-Sforza, L.L.(1996, January). "A pre-Columbian Y chromosome-specific transition and its implications for human evolutionary history", Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 93, p. 196-200.
• Van Sertima. I. (1976). They came before Columbus. New York.
• Wiercinski, A. (1971), "Affinidades raciales de algunas poblaiones antiquas de Mexico", Anales de Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 7a epoca, tomo II, pp. 123-143.
• Wiercinski,A. (1972). "Inter- and Intrapopulational Racial Differentiation of Tlatilco, Cerro de Las Mesas, Teothuacan, Monte Alban and Yucatan Maya", XXXlX Congreso Intern. de Americanistas, Lima 1970, Vol. 1, p. 231-252.
• Wiercinski,A. (1972b). "An anthropological study on the origin of 'Olmecs'", Swiatowit, 33:1972, pp. 143-174.
• Wiercinski, A. & Jairazbhoy, R.A. (1975) "Comment", The New Diffusionist, 5 (18),5
• Wilford, John Noble; Mother Culture, or Only a Sister?, The New York Times, March 15, 2005.
• Winters, C. (1997) "The Decipherment of the Olmec Writing System", 1997 Central States Anthropological Society Meeting.
• Winters, C. (2005) Atlantis in Mexico lulu.com.
• Xu, H. Mike (1996) Origin of the Olmec Civilization, University of Central Oklahoma Press.

[edit] External links

• [2]&[3]&[4]& [5]&[6] texts speculating on Olmecs having an African origin by Afrocentrist writer Clyde A. Winters
• Dr. Mike Xu's Transpacific website, comparing Olmec and Chinese Shang period artifacts.
• Website discussing "the nearly exact similarities between the ancient peoples of Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Rajasthan, etc., a part of India called Sivapuri and the Mesoamerican Olmecs."
• Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs, an article from Current Anthropology