8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IO7 



Well up in the Highlands of central Mexico, in the state of 

 Morelos, is the site of Chalcacingo, where a series of bas-reliefs on 

 the cliff face present pronounced Olmec characteristics.^ This, if it 

 proves to be in all respects an Olmec site, is the only one yet known 

 situated definitely in the Highland area. To account for a colony so 

 far detached from its native territory would require far more infor- 

 mation than we yet possess. However, the presence of such an out- 

 post might well explain the source of the well-known "baby-face" 

 figurines in the Valley of Mexico Middle Culture. Possibly the site, 

 if it was Olmec, had to do with some trade route, such as those link- 

 ing the southern Veracruz homeland with Oaxaca and Guerrero.* 



To summarize : The heart of the Olmec region lay in the coastal 

 lowlands along the Gulf, in the region flanking the Tuxtla Moun- 

 tains. There were cultural connections, and possibly colonies, to the 

 southward across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and there may have 

 been a few scattered outposts in the Highlands to the west, but the 

 culture definitely centered in the narrow strip between the Papaloapan 

 and the Tonala-Blasillo. 



The Middle Tres Zapotes-La Venta horizon, in which the art of 

 sculpture reached its zenith, was also the period signalized by marked 

 cultural isolation. That is, the forces producing the artistic climax 

 came wholly from within the culture, and were not the results of 

 external stimuli. Earlier, on the Lower Tres Zapotes level, and pos- 

 sibly even during a hypothetical developmental period in which the 

 unique art style began to take form, there seem to have been lines 

 of influence, particularly to the eastward, along which flowed traits 

 and patterns such as the ceramic styles linking Lower Tres Zapotes 

 with early Peten levels. However, there is no proof that the ancient 

 Olmec only received elements of culture without contributing. On 

 the contrary, there is a strong possibility that a number of complexes, 

 such as the Jaguar Monster cult, had their origin among the Olmec, 

 and spread eastward to the Maya and westward to the early Zapotec.^ 



^ Cf. figure in lower right, p. 171, in Covarrubias, M., El Arte "Olmeca" o de 

 La Venta. Cuadernos Americanos, Ano V, Julio-Agosto, pp. 153-179, 1946. 



* Olmec jades seem to be not uncommon in Guerrero, so that parts of that 

 state have been considered by some writers Olmec territory. Although the 

 region is not well known archeologically, there are, however, no indications that 

 any other remains unmistakably Olmec in type occur there, and it seems more 

 likely that the jades were carried there in trade — perhaps in exchange for un- 

 worked jade. Our data are at present too few to settle the question conclusively, 

 of course. 



^ Stirling has outlined a possible line of development of "Jaguar Mask panels" 

 in his paper "An Initial Series Date from Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico," 



