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National Geographic : 1993 Nov
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BURIED CREATIONS In mysterious rituals the Olmec at La Venta created stone mas terworks and immediately con cealed them. About 2,600 years ago workers dug a pit 23 feet deep in a courtyard, spread a base of sticky tar from petro leum seeps, and laid out blue green serpentine blocks. They bordered the image with yellow clay, tamped blue clay in central openings, then covered it all with layers of colored clay. In 1943 archaeologist Mat thew Stirling and his crew dug for two months to remove tons of rubble. What was the impressive mosaic they uncovered, now pre served with other La Venta arti facts in a Villahermosa park (above)? Was it so sacred that it had to be concealed? If a notch on one side is the forehead cleft typical of Olmec deities, the image may repre sent a jaguar mask. But if the notch belongs at the bottom, as Kent Reilly of Southwest Texas State University believes, the central column could symbolize the sacred tree of life. Another extraordinary offering from La Venta may record an actual event (below left). The eight-inch figurines of serpen tine and jade have deformed skulls and bear traces of sacred red cinnabar. The stone axes beside them may represent the columns lining some La Venta courtyards. Inexplicably, about a hundred years after burial the assemblage was uncovered and then reburied. La Venta was long believed to have been a ceremonial center used only for ritual. Recently excavators have uncovered signs of an active town: house floors, serpentine workshops, utilitarian stone tools, and even remains of ancient meals-corn, beans, fish, deer, and dogs. PAINTINGBY FELIPEDAVALOS 107
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