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An Olmec Design on an Early Peruvian Vessel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael D. Coe*
Affiliation:
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Abstract

Although it has been considered possible that certain elements originating in the Olmec culture of Mexico were added to older Peruvian traditions to produce the Chavin civilization, the radiocarbon dates on Olmec and Chavin make them approximately coeval. A black-ware bottle found at Kotosh, in the central Peruvian highlands, bears a design of an ear of maize, a motif of probable Olmec origin. Since this vessel was from a phase immediately preceding the Chavin horizon, it is suggested that the Olmec culture began earlier than did Chavin and, in fact, could have been the progenitor for civilization in the Andean Area.

Type
Facts and Comments
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1962

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References

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