Discover how was the SOCIAL organization of the OLMECAS

Mother cultures are usually much less recognized than they should be, since even though they are an important part of our history, and finding in them key elements of our present, we tend to forget part of their features. To talk about one of the most important mother cultures and look at their society and relationship with later civilizations, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the Olmec social organization.

The olmecThey are the mother culture of all the peoples of the Mesoamerican area, being the first great culture of the area, and having knowledge of it since 1200 BC. C. until 400 a. C. This being a stage within the Formative Period of America.

The location of the Olmecs can be located thanks to the different archaeological remains that have been found over the years. Its area of ​​greatest influence was the Gulf of Mexico, occupying a large number of kilometers in the areas that we currently know as Veracruz and Tabasco, although the latest sources speak of its influence could be even greater.

As for the word "Olmec", historians tend to agree that it comes from the Nahuatl language, its meaning being that of "sons of sule ”, since rubber was a very important element for the Olmec culture, serving for the creation of different very innovative inventions for the epoch.

Stages of the Olmecs

Regarding the Olmec evolution we must speak mainly about three moments, which refer to the area of ​​greatest influence in each of the Olmec stages. These three areas are as follows:

• San Lorenzo: The first area of ​​great Olmec predominance, being an area where we find the first characteristics of the Olmecs, such as the colossal heads.
• The sale: A cultural center born of the migrations of the survivors of San Lorenzo. For many historians it was the most important area of ​​the entire Olmec civilization.
• Tres Zapotes: The last center of the Olmecs, and also the least important of the three. It was important in a period of great decline of the Olmec culture, which was in its last years of importance.

To continue with this lesson on the social organization of the Olmecs, we must talk about the different social classes that we have evidence of in Olmec society. The Olmec social classes were as follows:

• Ruling class: A small group of Olmecs who had the greatest privileges of society, their similar in Western culture would be the nobility of the estates. They were also called elite, and were made up of military and religious figures, and depending on the area also by merchants and artists. It should be noted that the lack of sources makes it difficult to know exactly which were the greatest Olmec leaders, but the Historians tend to agree that the great importance of religion in the area suggests that the ruling class was closely related with religion.
• Subordinate class: Below the dominant were the subordinates, being a much larger group than the leaders, but almost without privileges. The largest number did not matter much, since this whole group was used for the most important jobs. harsh, as they were said to have no relationship with the gods, unlike the dominant. The vast majority of the members of this group were the peasants, that is, the Olmecs who worked the fields, being the main economic and subsistence source of this Mesoamerican society. The lands used to be divided by the different social nuclei, where the subordinate class gave the harvest to the dominant class.

It should be noted that the Olmecs they don't have a lot of fonts as if other cultures such as the Mayan or the Aztec have them, so much of the information we have about their social organization are given by a few archaeological sources and by a large number of theories made by the historians.

When talking about the organization of Olmec society we must bear in mind that it is mainly a stratified society and with a community system. It is stratified because society is divided into different social strata, with two main groups, which are the ones we have discussed in the previous section. Regarding the community system, it refers to the division of the Olmec civilizations in numerous cities or social nuclei, each being led by an important figure, which may be political, military or religious.

The functions of all Olmec citizens they were clear at all times, being almost impossible to switch between the two social groups, the Olmecs performing the same task throughout their lives. The priests followed the gods, the politicians ruled and the subordinate class worked the fields, no person could change from one job to another, since they were divine designs.

Even if Olmec society was divided into small towns, on many occasions there were a series of important ceremonial centers where the society, the largest cases being the three that we have mentioned in the first section of this lesson. In these centers there was a huge hierarchy, and the elite of the area was in a position of greater influence than the aristocracy of the rest of the small cities.

We must bear in mind that the social organization of the Olmecs could vary between the different cultural centers, since many years passed between both and the situations were not the same, but there were a series of common elements, these being the ones we have commented on in the pulled apart.