Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
GE and Science Prize for Young Life Scientists

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 18 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5712, pp. 1068 - 1072
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107599
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis

Jeffrey P. Blomster,1* Hector Neff,2 Michael D. Glascock3

The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical society, monumental art, and an internally consistent ideology, expressed in a distinct style and salient iconography. Whether the Olmec style arose in just one area or emerged from interactions among scattered contemporaneous societies remains controversial. Using elemental analysis, we determined the regional clay sources of 725 archaeological ceramic samples from across Mesoamerica. Exported Olmec-style ceramics originated from the San Lorenzo region of the Gulf Coast, supporting Olmec priority in the creation and spread of the first unified style and iconographic system in Mesoamerica.

1 Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
2 Department of Anthropology, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA.
3 Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: blomster{at}gwu.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages.
J. S. Henderson, R. A. Joyce, G. R. Hall, W. J. Hurst, and P. E. McGovern (2007)
PNAS 104, 18937-18940
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Petrographic evidence shows that pottery exchange between the Olmec and their neighbors was two-way.
J. B. Stoltman, J. Marcus, K. V. Flannery, J. H. Burton, and R. G. Moyle (2005)
PNAS 102, 11213-11218
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Implications of new petrographic analysis for the Olmec "mother culture" model.
K. V. Flannery, A. K. Balkansky, G. M. Feinman, D. C. Grove, J. Marcus, E. M. Redmond, R. G. Reynolds, R. J. Sharer, C. S. Spencer, and J. Yaeger (2005)
PNAS 102, 11219-11223
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products