Olmec Influence
Olmec influence is seen in many of the monuments of Teopantecuanitlan. In addition to the four prominent monuments discussed above, Olmec style or Olmec-influenced artifacts have been found throughout the site.
There are several theories regarding how such Olmec motifs and designs — perhaps even deities — came to be at a site hundreds of miles/kilometers from the Olmec heartland. Martinez Donjuán believes that the roots of the Olmec culture lie in Teopantecuanitlan, and a splinter group left Teopantecuanitlan to colonize what we call the Olmec "heartland". a revival of Miguel Covarrubias's hypothesis.
Noted archaeologist Michael D. Coe has said that this "position is contradicted by the environmental constraints" imposed by the semi-arid Guerrero highlands. Niederberger finds Olmec influence only in the monumental architecture, with the rest of the culture derived from indigenous sources.
Read more about this topic: Teopantecuanitlan
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“For character too is a process and an unfolding ... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protruberent there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)