America was discovered by Christopher Columbus like India was discovered by Vasco da Gama, these are the same facts as if someone from your family goes to America for the first time and comes back and tells you that they discovered America. But you will not listen to that member but rather laugh at him and advise him to keep quiet, why because you know that hundreds of years ago people from other countries are going to America and coming back from there. But it was not so five to six hundred years ago. The Western world was completely unaware of the mysterious land of the American continent and in that time a civilization existed in Ancient America . At the end of the fifteenth century (in 1492), for the first time Columbus set foot on the land of the ‘New World’, which today the world knows as America.
Existence of civilization in Ancient America
American people celebrate the second Monday of October every year as Columbus Day. On this day holiday is declared in most places in America. But it was not that no one lived in America before Columbus or that the world did not know about America. As the work of archaeologists and researchers is progressing, the haze over the history of ancient civilizations that flourished on American soil is beginning to thin out. Remnants of civilization started being found. This was the Olmec Civilization. Whatever remains of the Olmec civilization have been found are quite mysterious.
Mysterious Olmec Civilization
Based on the evidence found, it is believed that this civilization flourished in Central America and surrounding areas from 1200 BC to 200 BC. So far, archaeologists have found authentic signs of the Olmec civilization at four places named Laguna de los Cerros, San Lorenzo, Tres Zapotes, and La Venta. Due to the presence of rubber trees around them, the founders of this civilization are called ‘Olmecs’ because rubber is called Ollin in the local language there. The Olmec civilization is also called Cultura Madre i.e. Mother Culture of Central America in the local language.
This is also true because the links of almost all the ancient American civilizations that flourished after that are somewhere connected with the Olmec civilization, then who were the Olmec people? Where else did you come from? Around the thirteenth century BC, this civilization that came into existence in the Gulf of Mexico suddenly disappeared one day, its entire existence ceased to exist.
Olmec civilization developed by fighting many difficulties
Dense, tropical forests of Central America, low swampy land, floods of rivers, and so – there are very inhospitable conditions for the development of any civilization, but the Olmec civilization developed by fighting these difficulties.
This fact makes the amazing remains of this civilization even more curious, on top of that the sudden disappearance of this civilization without leaving any trace is creating panic in the hearts and minds of the researchers.
Although the people of the Olmec civilization had developed a writing system of their own, archaeologists have not been able to find many records of this civilization till the present day, apart from this, not enough manuscripts have been found for scholars to understand the mysterious words of their script. As a result, whatever we know about the Olmec civilization today is based on guesswork based on the amazing remains found in archaeological excavations. For example, the Olmecs left behind amazing artifacts made by them.
Amazing remains of this civilization
The most famous of them is the ‘giant human head’ made by him. Anthropologists were amazed to see the shapes and expressions of these faces because they were not able to connect these faces with any known human civilization. They are made by carving round boulders of extremely hard rock). Technically, in today’s time, it is difficult to do this work even with today’s state-of-the-art equipment.
Such work done by a civilization 3200 years ago creates wonder. At least eighteen works of this type have been found till the present time. These giant human heads, ranging from one to three meters in height, belong to adult humans with slanting eyes, broad noses, and prominent cheeks. These mysterious heads seem to have belonged to Olmec rulers or influential people there who may have built them as a symbol of their increased power, as was done by Jai Varman VII in Angkordham, Cambodia.
La Venta in Mexico remained the largest religious center of the Olmec civilization for almost 1000 years. A small step pyramid has been found here. In front of it, there is a square chhatra that rests on basalt pillars standing at its four corners. America’s oldest ball court has been built nearby, bordered by two parallel dunes. Carved rock carvings, ornate altars, and giant basalt faces have been found inside these monuments.
Many Sculptures found doing research
Near the church located in a village there, a sculpture of green stone has been found, which looks as if a virgin woman is raising a child in her lap, while some scholars estimate that this idol is of a man. The one who is carrying the rain god in his hands.
Another similar mysterious idol has been found in the form of a pillar of basalt in which a man with a monkey-like face is looking towards the sky. Even today people get confused seeing this whether it is a monkey-like human or a human with a monkey-like face. Seeing the giant face sculptures made of stone weighing 18 to 20 tons of basalt, archaeologists speculated that these stones must have been brought here by the way of rivers.
Most of the researchers believe that these giant faces must have been of the kings or influential people there, but some other scholars think that these faces are of the defeated players of a dangerous game played with a simple three-pound heavy rubber ball.
Disappears mysteriously
By the way, looking at the clothes kept on the heads of these faces, it seems that this can also happen. The Olmec society was a powerful, capable, and organized society, but this civilization completely disappears from the history of the world around 200 years BC. The reason is still unknown today.
Inscriptions and archaeological remains show that the Olmec civilization had a profound influence on later developed civilizations such as the Aztec Civilization, Maya Civilization, etc. For example, when the Spanish encountered the Aztecs, they saw the Aztecs playing a special kind of game with a rubber ball, which was a product of the Olmec civilization.
Apart from this game, some other features (such as the study of the solar system in space) were also a gift of the Olmec civilization, which was adopted by other Maya civilizations.
Who were the founders of the Olmec civilization? Where did they come from and where did they disappear? The answer to these questions is currently shrouded in mystery. Who knows those whom the world is looking for in space outside the Earth, their past is connected to the Earth itself. But if it is so then we have to find a way ‘inside’ instead of ‘outside’.