JENNIFER DYE
Imagine what it would take to move 25 metric tons of rock without the aid of the modern wheel or beasts of burden.
Ann Cyphers is a premier scholar of the Olmecs, an early American civilization known for their distinctive, colossal stone heads, which weighed up to 25 metric tons.
They were able to create monuments to their kings and gods in 1500 B.C. using only human labor.
Cyphers has uncovered much of the Olmec capital city, known as San Lorenzo, in Southern Veracruz on the Gulf Coast of Mexico.
She will give a lecture today at 6 p.m. in the JSB auditorium.
The one-hour presentation will include slides of some of the monuments and artifacts she has uncovered during her dig of the site.
San Lorenzo could be the first city built in the New World said John Clark, professor of anthropology. “The Olmec civilization is the first one to have legitimate kings and to portray early gods.”
Clark said the stone heads are believed to be representations of ancient kings.
Other sculptures may be representations of mythological creatures and gods.
Cyphers has spent 24 years doing archeological research, the last seven doing field work in San Lorenzo. She has published numerous articles about her research.
Cyphers stated in one article that the Olmec people carried the materials for these sculptures over long distances.
As they were built, the sculptures would be strategically placed to re-enact mythological and historical events. She believes they did this to celebrate and commemorate the events.
“The Olmec was not the first culture to develop in Mesoamerica,” she said. “The Soconusco region shows significant cultural developments before 1500 B.C., but it never achieved the complexity of the Olmec.”
Cyphers is visiting from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City. Last week she presented some of her findings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and the New World Archeological Foundation.
Photo courtesy of John Clark
ANCIENT HISTORY: Left, the Olmecs built stone monuments to their ancient kings. This altar, known as La Venta, is believed to be the throne of an ancient Olmec ruler. Ruins of the Olmec people were uncovered at an archaeological dig in San Lorenzo off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico
