OLMEC CIVILIZATION

SOCIAL

• Classes- elites and peasants
• Gender roles- women allowed some jobs but not others
• Gender relations- men were superior
• Women were respected
• Both men and women played their part

POLITICAL

• Small communal/familial villages
• Rulers descendants of families who increased wealth
• Political buildings
• Shaman-Kings or Priest-Kings
• Civil peace and tranquility

INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENT

CULTURAL

• Ritual sacrifices
• Ceremonial centers
• Temples, altars, pyramids, and tombs
• Artistic legacy- colossal basalt heads

ECONOMY

• Agriculturally based
• Traded across Mezoamerica
• Pioneers of the rubber tapping
• Peasants did most of the work
• Trade partners- Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, La Venta