The Epi-Olmec Conundrum: Looking for Answers in All the Wrong Places

Summary

Epi-Olmec is a nebulous term, adrift in both time and space. Weakly defined by a set of slippery contrasts - isolated from what came before and what comes after - the descriptor lacks robust categorization of its own. And yet in spite of this hollow terminology, the words "Epi-Olmec" themselves are so politically fraught that certain scholars have adopted the even more obfuscatory term "Isthmian", a label growing in popularity within the literature. This paper begins the process of defining Epi-Olmec in its own right. Whether understood primarily as a time period, geographic region, visual culture program, or hieroglyphic system, Epi-Olmec art and writing have much to offer the study of early Mesoamerican material culture. Rather than setting Epi-Olmec apart from more robustly-defined predecessors, neighbors, and successors, this paper will use Epi-Olmec visual culture to inform upon them. What connections can be drawn, for example, between Epi-Olmec forms and Classic Veracruz deities? How might an understanding of Classic Veracruz iconography illuminate the complexities of Epi-Olmec supernaturals? By upending the historic practice of "reading" Epi-Olmec art through a Maya/Izapan lens, this paper will instead turn toward the west, opening a new avenue for the study and definition of Epi-Olmec visual culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20841