Tres Zapotes and eventually Cerro de las Mesas were the largest Epi-Olmec centers though neither would reach the size and importance of the great Olmec cities before them nor El Tajín after them. Other Epi-Olmec sites of note include El Mesón, Lerdo de Tejada, La Mojarra, Bezuapan, and Chuniapan de Abajo.
The rise of the Epi-Olmec culture on the western edge of the
On the other hand, the Late Formative period saw a widespread decline in trade and other interregional interaction throughout Mesoamerica,[4] along with a marked decline in the use of exotic prestige items, such as greenstone beads.[5] It has been proposed these exotic trade goods were replaced as prestige items by locally created luxury goods, such as cotton cloth and towering headdresses.[6] The decline in interregional interaction and trade was not uniform however: in particular, interaction with cultures across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec increased, and an increase in the import of obsidian has also been detected.[7]
In contrast to earlier Olmec art, Epi-Olmec art displays a general loss of detail and quality. Ceramic figurines were less realistically detailed,stelae at Tres Zapotes lacked the artisanship, refinement, and detail of the earlier San Lorenzo and La Venta work.[9]
Based on the decentralized placement of mounds groups and monumental sculpture at Tres Zapotes, the Epi-Olmec hierarchy is assumed to have been less centralized than its Olmec predecessor, perhaps featuring a factionalized ruling assembly rather than a single ruler.[10]
(See also Tres Zapotes site layout and societal organization)
While the depiction of what appear to be historical events can be seen in La Venta Stela 3 ("Uncle Sam") and Monument 13 ("The Ambassador"), Olmec sculpture was more pre-occupied with the portraits of rulers, as is shown for example in the 17 colossal heads. In contrast, Epi-Olmec monuments show a dramatic increasing concern with historicity, culminating in the eventual appearance of dated transcriptions.[11]
These dated transcriptions were made possible by the Epi-Olmec culture's very early use of the
While neither the Isthmian script nor the Long Count calendar were confined to the Epi-Olmec culture, their use, particularly in combination, is one of its hallmarks.
Whereas contemporaneous Izapan monuments, some 330 miles (500 km) to the southeast, display mythic and religious subjects, Epi-Olmec monuments glorified rulers. La Mojarra Stela 1, for example, shows a ruler in an elaborate outfit and headdress. Justeson and Kaufman's translation of the accompanying Isthmian script gives the figure's name as Harvester Mountain Lord and the script tells of his rise to power, warfare, a solar eclipse, his own bloodletting, and a "dripping sacrifice",[13] perhaps of his brother-in-law.[14]
Similar Epi-Olmec monuments featuring finely dressed figures with towering, flowing headdresses include the Alvarado Stela and El Mesón Stela 1. Unlike the La Mojarra Stela 1, these two monuments also show a subordinate, and likely intimidated, smaller figure. Some badly eroded
This "exalted ruler" monumental art later became common in the Maya lands to the east during the Classic era.
By 250 CE, Cerro de las Mesas, Remojadas, and other sites further north along the Veracruz coast had eclipsed Tres Zapotes. Although Tres Zapotes would continue into the Classic era, its heyday had passed and Epi-Olmec had given way to the Classic Veracruz culture.