Reutilization of Olmec Monuments during the Classic Period in the Gulf Coast of México

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

After excavating Gulf Coast archaeological sites, Alfonso Medellin Zenil affirmed that Olmec monuments were carved during the Late Classic period (600-900 AD). He made this statement two decades after the second round table of the Mexican anthropology society, in which scholars agreed on placing the Olmec culture in the Preclassic period, based on stratigraphical excavations. The archaeological data recovered to date from Gulf Coast sites strongly support the placement of the Olmec culture between the years 1400 and 400 BC. Of course, Medellin Zenil was aware of these facts; however, he continued claiming that the Olmecs were a Classic culture. The evidence he used to defend his hypothesis was the association of many Olmec monuments with classic period materials in sites such as Laguna de los Cerros and San Martín Pajapan. Despite scholars rejected Medellin Zenil’s hypothesis, nobody has made the effort of explaining the association of Olmec moments with Classic ceramic materials. In this paper, I will address this issue through an analysis of Medellin Zenil excavations and the depositional context of other Olmec monuments. I will argue that the evidence provided by Medellin Zenil suggests the reutilization of Olmec monuments during the Classic period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25730