Olmec Civilization and its History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Olmec Civilization and its History - Essay Example The culture of the people is believed to be ended around 400 BC. The Olmec inhabited southern Mexico and were regarded as the mother culture of the Americas. Their technology and culture influenced the preceding culture and technology. Sertima support for the Olmec illustrates the belief that they came before Columbus and should be considered as part of the ancient civilization of the Americas. In his book They Came before Columbus, Sertima argues that the Olmec were the first face of civilization and influenced the technology and culture of America. The argument holds water as presented in the Olmec brand of pre-Columbian contact theory. The major claim presented by Sertima is the existence of African origin in the Mesoamerican culture in the western hemisphere. The theory asserts that the influence of the American culture in the Mesoamerican culture was massive and should be considered in the study of the ancient civilization, which is becoming a complex process. He further added that the Kings of the 25th dynasty of Egypt were Nubians (Diehl 82). This theory led to increasing need to research on the clarity and accuracy of the theory with further finding supporting and some discrediting the theory developed by Sertima. The name Olmec means the rubber people in the Nahuatl language. Aztec is the name of the people who inhabited the area because they extracted latex from r ubber trees. However; the name was used mistakenly by the Europeans by assigning the name to ancient ruins found in the region. The ruling found was not of the Aztec civilization, but date before the civilization. The name also refers to the ancient ball game developed by the Olmec and considered the Olmec creation. The name used by the Olmec includes Xi which is similar to the Chinese names. The evidence of Olmec existence in America led to questions on their origin and argument arose. It was first thought that they originated from West Africa,  but further evidence deduces that they were remnants from the Xia dynasty of China (Demarest 62).