Olmec: The Origins of Ancient Mexican Civilization (biographies), November 20-21, 2008

In fall 2008, the Mexican Center of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies will receive as a gift from the Universidad Veracruzana at Xalapa, Mexico, a full-scale stone reproduction of an Olmec colossal head. San Lorenzo Monument 1 "El Rey" is considered a signature piece of pre-Columbian Olmec culture and a world-class art object that represents New World civilization as emblematically as the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán or the ruins of Machu Picchu. The arrival of this monument at the University of Texas presents an opportune moment for LLILAS to host a major conference that focuses on the monuments and symbolism of the ancient Olmec, as well as on their place within the primary civilizations of both the Old and New Worlds. The conference Olmec: The Origins of Ancient Mexican Civilization will take place November 20-21, 2008, at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on the UT campus. In contrast to a public image that identifies the Olmec (1500-400 BCE) as merely an enigmatic people who sculpted colossal stone heads of unknown gods and carved exquisite jade figurines, current scholarship recognizes Olmec culture as the foundation of civilization in Mesoamerica. Unquestionably, the Olmec not only carved magnificent monolithic public monuments, but they also originated the first inter-Mesoamerican art style. Recent discoveries in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, strongly suggest that the Olmec even may have independently invented a system of hieroglyphic writing around 1000 BCE. The impetus for this symposium is the recognition of ritual meaning and the presentation of archaeological and iconographic interpretations within the sculptural and symbolic corpus of the Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative Periods. Papers presented in the symposium will propose interpretations of archaeological materials as well as specific symbols, and will identify specific ritual costumes and accoutrements within Olmec-style imagery in several mediums. Evidence also will be presented of interaction between the Olmec heartland and other sites during the same period. We hope that the symposium also will provide a useful forum for the discussion of the role of ritual and symbolism as a unifying ideology within the diverse political geography of the Mesoamerican Formative Period. Many of the symposium papers will concentrate on iconographic data from the Olmec heartland, while others will focus on objects created in the Olmec style from other Mesoamerican geographical areas. All events are free and open to the public. Presentations will be made in Spanish and English, with simultaneous translation provided.