Maya and Olmec Art
Maya and Olmec art share similar features that link two cultures artistically. A head marked by a partly open mouth with thickened lips is the classic showing of a "baby face". These faces appear on a number of Maya stelae at Naranjo as ornaments attached to belts of the character depicted. One belt ornament on stela 14 at Naranjo shows slanting eyes, a broad nose with flaring nostrils, the outline of the open mouth and the thickened lips with a small pendicle in the center of the upper lip. The shape of the ornament is a common characteristic of Olmec heads from Mexico. Although some of the styles differ and vary between some Olmec and Maya faces, their similarities allows archeologists to connect Olmec style with Maya time.
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