America's First Civilization

by Michael D. Coe, Jay I. Kislak

SMITHSONIAN LIBRARY. America's First Civilization. Discovering the Olmec. History; North America; Olmecs

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology

159 pages

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Michael Douglas Coe was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher, and author. He is known for his research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya, and was among the foremost Mayanists of the late twentieth century.

Reviews

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive and fun to read account of the Olmec civilization, Mexico’s foundational culture.
Michael Coe, one of the foremost archaeologists involved in discovering and deciphering the striking artifacts (like the signature giant basalt heads) was also free of the prejudices that warped the vision of many archaeologists if the day. While some, as late as 1968 when he wrote this, would not have considered going to the existing populations and asking the elders for their interpretation of the finds, he did that and treated his local excavators as colleagues And his decisions about where to dig as well as the significance of the discoveries they made. This wisdom shows itself also in many beautifully written passages in the book:
“The disease of civilization spreads, either forcefully or because neighboring peoples are brought into trading or social relations with the dominant power. The move from a chiefdom to a state is thus a sudden quantum jump, rather than a slow evolution.”
“We may be captives of history, but we are also it’s children. Americas first civilization is part of the heritage of us all, speaking to us across the gulf of centuries with its message of human creativity and achievement.”
Coe is the rare person who has the instinct and ability of a scientist as well as the wisdom of a philosopher and the literary skill to convey it.

[Ed Mestre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been reading Coe since my teens. I was excited to see this new Kindle bargain, especially since I had just returned from ruin hopping around Mexico. A little disappointed in that it was more history & anthropological process than the results of that history & process. The final 15–20% was more of what I expected. Especially intriguing, was the proposition that the Olmecs were not necessarily a separate group that taught the Maya how to be civilized, but rather the Mayas themselves. A proto-Maya so to speak. Perhaps Mayanists, like Coe, just didn't want to dilute the amazing accomplishments of the Mayas in anyway, but he backs it up with some compelling evidence.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating book. Michael Coe is a recognised expert on archeology in mesoamerica and this expertise shines through in this book. It's quite short but has a wealth of information and is partly biographic in that it describes a lot of the author's own field work and discoveries.He makes a good case for the Olmecs being the first civilisation in the Americas and has some interesting observations about what a civilisation actually is. scholars "are also in accord that a civilization is a class society organized as a state, that is, with a power superordinate over the diverse tribal, ethnic, and class elements that are found within its borders. ......There were not only classes but many ethnic groups subsumed by the sovereign might of the great Olmec centers, extending from coast to coast and down into lower Central America. No chiefdom could have accomplished this. Thus, there was an Olmec state, and the Olmec were civilized".
I find these distinctions interesting when contrasted with the oft heard descriptions thrown about in Australia recently that the aboriginals have 60,000 years of civilisation behind them. But they would certainly not qualify as a civilisation in Coe's terms.Having lived in Mexico, I was, of course, aware of the giant Olmec heads and I'd seen at least one at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City but I really knew very little about the Olmec Civilization and Coe teases out the known history extremely well. They date back about 3000 years....well before the Mayans and had extended their reach from near Veracruz across the spine of Mexico to Guerro. In Coe's words: "Why did the Olmec cross the Isthmus and establish posts down the Pacific Coast of Chiapas and Central America? I am again speculating, but the answer I would again give is: jade. Some of the loveliest jades known for the Pre-Columbian New World have come from richly stocked graves in the Nicoya Peninsula of northwestern Costa Rica.
In all of this expansion, the Olmec took more along with them than just their art style and commerce: They disseminated civilization itself, unknown before they appeared. Mesoamerica as we know it was really their creation. Where they did not go, or where their influence was unfelt, civilized life never took hold, not even in the two and a half millennia that elapsed between then and the Spanish conquest".
Certainly some significant mysteries remain....a lot of the great cultures that Coe uncovers had been defaced and then buried. (obviously requiring a lot of work to bury). Coe's explanation: "The amount of pent-up hatred and fury represented by this enormous act of destruction must have been awesome, indeed. These monuments are large, and basalt is a hard stone. Wherever possible, heads were smashed from bodies, “altars” were smashed to pieces, and strange, dimpled depressions and slots were cut into Colossal Heads. There are no signs that wedges or the fire-and-water treatment were used to break up the larger stones: I suspect that they built huge tripods over monuments, hoisted other monuments over these, and let them drop from great heights. Why was this done? Because the Olmec monuments must have stood for the class of leaders that held the tributary, populace in such a firm grip, forcing from them incredible expenditures of labor. These stones must have been the symbols of all that had held them in thrall, and they destroyed these symbols with fervor. But the Olmec must also have feared their power after the act, for by burying them with such care, they removed the hated objects from their sight without incurring their posthumous wrath". Well he may be right but it seems to me that without corroborating evidence that this is just speculation.
I was also quite fascinated by his suggestion that he learned a lot by studying the contemporary people and their habits. He reasons along the following lines: "The really prime land, however, is, like the savannas, the gift of the floods: the natural levees along the rivers that are covered with a deep layer of rich silt after the waters recede. Although only a dry-season crop can be brought in, the corn yield is fantastic, as high as 3,200 pounds per acre as compared with 1,780 pounds for the hillier lands. The upper limit of population must have been about 5,000 people. It took seventeen men to lift and transport the half-ton Monument 17 at San Lorenzo a mere two miles to the schoolhouse in Tenochtitlán. My guess is that at least 2,000 able-bodied men would have been involved in the operation, [bringing the huge stone heads from their source} representing the effective labor of a population of 8,000 to 10,000 persons. There are now sixty of these monuments known for San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
The only possible conclusion is that the political power of each center was exerted many dozens of miles away from it, and that the force and authority of the Olmec were felt far beyond the heartland itself. Three thousand years ago, there just could not have been enough able-bodied men in the immediate area to have carried out all the physical labor required.
These speak to us of secular, rather than religious, leadership, with power in the hands of a hereditary lineage or dynasty. This conforms with what we know about all other Mesoamerican societies for which we have evidence. In these, the priesthood, while admittedly important, played second fiddle to the civil rulers".
I have a strong recollection of attending a reception in Mexico City in early 1974 where the work of a German artist was being displayed and it was the most beautiful reproduction of mayan glyphs and stela inscriptions and I have the vague recollection that she was working with Michael Coe...but alas, it is so long ago and memories are unreliable.
But Coe has put together quite a delightful publication about the Olmec and their obvious massive contribution to civilisation in central America. As he observes: What had once been the Olmec civilization eventually transformed itself into the Maya civilization. .......But a great deal of the brilliant Classic Maya civilization of CE 300-900 is unparalleled elsewhere in Mesoamerica. .......But what makes the Maya even more outstanding was that they alone among all the native peoples of the New World were fully literate; that is, they had a script sufficiently developed so they could write down anything in their language, which has been substantially deciphered.
The Classic Maya civilization fell to ruin around CE 900. Archeologists still have no firm answers as to why and how this happened, but there is ample evidence that a Toltec or Toltec-influenced people were pushing into the central Maya area from the Gulf Coast of Mexico and invading the remaining Maya centers at this time. Perhaps they were but a symptom",
Happy to give five stars to this book but it would have been greatly improved with illustrations.

[Les Gehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being nearly 50 years old, this short book is still a great introduction to the Olmec civilization. Well written, with excellent illustrations.

[Kristi Clemow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the best part of this book was that I got it from the library and it had that really old book smell and feel.

[Jan Tabor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been fascinated by the Olmec civilization since I first learned about it. It predates the Mayan, Aztec, Toltec and Inca civilizations in the Americas. However, I was hoping for more definitive information regarding the origins of the Olmec people. This book is more of a history of the archeology which uncovered this lost civilization. There are detailed descriptions of the artifacts uncovered which I found interesting, but the book left me with more questions and answers. The author is a scientist and careful about putting hypotheses out there without proof to back them up. My real question was: Why did the Olmec carve great stone heads with obviously Negroid features long before the birth of Christ? I did not find an answer, or even a theory I found plausible in this book, but the history of the archeological finds was interesting and well-written.

[M.J. Edington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scholarly Tome

I had no knowledge of the Olmec civilization, so I've learned a great deal from this book. It appears well researched and documented, but the author isn't shy about offering his own insights and opinions. These sometimes disagree with his colleagues in the field, but he is able to support perspective with documentation and recent discovery.
This book is presented in a scholarly manner and should be approached as a primer to the Olmec civilization.
I am impressed with the quality of writing and interesting (and intelligent) presentation of this material.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Coe was a preeminent Mesoamerican scholar. This book contains some interesting history of his work on Olmec sites in Mexico, especially La Venta and San Lorenzo, in the 1960s. The book was originally published in 1968. The problem is that so much has been discovered in the years since then. So a lot of the information is out of date.

[Bruce McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Olmec Review

A good primer on the first Mesoamerican people. Some ideas are new and conclusions reached are of the author's own choosing. A good place to start becoming familiar with Mesoamerica.

[Jeffrey Covey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting topic, but the writing's opaque. I kept re-reading a sentence to see if it was me, but no. It was just impossible to tell which phrase was supposed to match a verb or how two ideas were connected. I would like to know more about the Olmec; I'll keep looking.

[Robert E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of a foundational civilization

I knew a smattering of Aztec and Mayan history but had no idea about the remarkable Olmec who founded mesoamerican civilization and culture. Very clearly written.

[Linda Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. History of Mayans & Aztecs..somewhat confused by timelines & the Olmtecs.

[RosaneC · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was very misleading. I thought it was about the Olmec civilization, but it was more about how scientists uncovered monuments e vestiges of that people. A boring read.

[Paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book

This is a great start to study Olmec Civilization. An excellent book. Many have tried to lay claims in the Olmec Civilization, our mother culture.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, well written book. Spoiler alert! I found the conclusion that the Olmec migrated and became the Myan well supported and a logical conclusion.

[Wayne Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick overview of the Olmec civilization which is considered to be one of the first American civilizations.......

Very easy read.

[Will Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

If, like me, you're an armchair archaeologist, or even an active archaeologist interested in the pre-history of the Americas, take this book from the shelf.
The subject is the late, slow discovery by Europeans of prehistoric high civilization existing in the Mexico/Guatemala corridor of Mesoamerica, unveiling for readers a string of civilizations as culturally sophisticated and complex as ancient Rome, London or Madrid.

The pre-historic American peoples discussed in this book are predominantly the Olmec, the Maya and the Aztec and other smaller contemporary client tribes. These first Americans flourished in the steaming jungles and arid highlands along the Mexico/Guatemala corridor as early as 400 BC., holding sway for a millennium until roughly CE 900, by which time all but the Aztecs mysteriously left the stage of history. Megalithic stone architecture is what is left behind to tell the tales of the earliest literate, hardy, artistic - and most importantly, agricultural - Olmecs. At the time of contact with Europeans the Aztec peoples seemed to have literally taken over all the ancient centres of high civilization first established by the Olmecs. A new period of high civilization followed, peopled by equally stunning Aztec sophistication.

The author grapples with identifying beyond any doubt the builders of the most wondrous settled and highly developed archaic city site, the pyramid city of Teotihuacán situated a few miles south-east of present day Mexico City. Teotihuacán ,was a major city site dating roughly to the time of Christ and covering some 36 sq. miles, with residential suburbs and a central ceremonial plaza of startlingly large stone step pyramids. The famous Pyramid of the Sun rivals in size and eerily copies the style and mysterious features of ancient Egypt's Great Pyramid at Giza. These were definitely agricultural people who worshipped a Sun-god. The pyramids served as platforms for ceremonial human sacrifice to the Sun- god, this much is known from glyphic stone illustrations. The trouble identifying Teotihuacán's builders starts with the undeniably Olmec style carvings and statuary, but otherwise undisputed long-term occupation of the site by Aztecs. Who built it? The author leans toward Olmec origins, but there is no certainty on this point.

This book only just begins to approach the later and even more spectacular Aztec city of Tenochtitlán which is literally buried in the sands of time, situated exactly under where Mexico City stands today. The Spanish conquistadors of the 16th Century wrote witness accounts of a huge, busy city built on an island in a large inland sea, accessed by huge, paved causeways, and leading to the central palace of the ill-fated King Moctezuma II. Gold statuary, ornament and jewelry were warehoused in heaping quantities in Moctezuma's grand palace. Of course, the entry into Mexico of Europeans precipitated the quick removal of all possible gold treasure to Spain, and the Conquest ultimately spelled the doom of nearly all of these first cosmopolitan Americans through warfare and the ghastly spread of alien pestilences for which the natives had no immunity. There remains in Mexico today a remnant population of Maya people who speak the original language and some even live traditional lifestyles in the surviving deep jungles of lowland Mexico. But this author chooses to spend little little space on post-Conquest Mexican civilization, concentrating instead on the most ancient mysteries of high civilization in prehistoric America.

This book is well written and illustrated generously.

If you are a traveler to Mexico and you want to experience more than just sunny beaches and blue ocean, read this book and at least imagine the sites uncovered by archaeologists. Better, take the trouble to visit what sites are accessible. Your understanding of human civilization will be expanded.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book. For one the book seemed far too short. As a result, very little was covered to any real depth. While some of that can be explained by the little we really know about the Olmec culture I still feel more could have been included.

There were several references to past digs and the author's personal experiences on field trips and excavations, but the references are no later than the 1960s. This leaves one with the impression that this 2017 copyrighted book is 40-50 years behind the current state of Olmec study.

Finally, where are the maps and pictures? So many monuments and works of art are mentioned and locations described with only a cursory amount of detail. Some of the monuments mentioned only have a name (Monument 17) and such a basic description as to have no clue what it looked like (e.g. 14 tons basalt stone). I kept hoping that there would be pictures at the back of the book so kept a mental reference for those items I wanted to see. Sadly, besides the little picture at the start of every chapter, there are no pictures.

If you know nothing of the Olmec this would be an OK primer to a fascinating pre-Columbian culture. Just be sure to have Google nearby to look up pictures and maps of the monuments and paintings described.

If you know anything at all about the Olmec, about the only think that might be new to you in this book is the description of the controversy of dating the culture to before the Mayas in the 1940s.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. I expected better from the Smithsonian. I give it two stars because at least I found nothing glaringly inaccurate.

since wiring this review I've learned that the book was originally published in the 1960s and the copyright on my copy was for a reprint. I've added a star for that, but still can't give it more because of the lack of pictures of the monuments and artifacts.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book was first published in 1968, the Olmec and the discovery of Wild Corn was new to me.
There are lots of pictures of the area, findings and art which is quite helpful, but the actual documentation --date time and place -- is often missing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated now, but a treasure-trove of information about the Olmecs.

[Philip Bailey]

This is not a book one is likely to snuggle up with while enjoying their favorite libation. It is however fascinating if at times dry and only of interest for a few who may ponder our past. It certainly leaves one questioning “how’d they do that”? Numerous monuments throughout history remain unexplained, or at least guessed at and maybe you buy it maybe not. Stonehenge, Easter Island, the Pyramids in Egypt. But in our own hemisphere there are also wonders to discover. The Olmecs appeared around 3,000 years ago, or 1,000 years BCE. They were indeed civilized albeit primitive. Seems like an oxymoron, but consider. They mined 18 ton stones, transported them some 60 miles and carved giant heads as monuments to some unknown. They dug holes approximately 20 feet deep, about 20 feet square, lined the bottom with carved slabs and then covered the same with the dirt they had removed. They built a pyramid 100 feet high with layers of different colored clay, the source of which is unknown. They were big on jade carvings. Essentially, they selectively bred crops to establish an agricultural food source. Yet no one knows from where they came. It may be assumed as they died out the Mayas, the Aztecs, the Incas, and some other advanced peoples came to be. While much of history seems to focus on early Europe, the Mideast and Asia, there is much to ponder about the history here in the Americas. A book that will leave you if not in awe at least wondering.

[Susan Ferguson]

Fascinating early history of the Olmec civilizatiion which appeared almost fully developed and was the foundation for the Maya, Aztec, and Incap civilizations. A hint is given (at least I saw it that way) about the early traces being lost because they came from a volcanic area where any traces would have been lost in eruptions.