Bowl carved with "Olmec dragon" motif,

1200–900 BCE

Olmec Style Ceramics

Beginning about 1200 B.C., stylistically similar ceramic vessels and figurines appear across much of Mesoamerica. Both white-slipped, fleshy figures—some incorporating features of infants—and vessels carved with abstracted renditions of crocodilian beasts (among other motifs) indicate widespread awareness of the complex civilization developing on Mexico’s Gulf Coast at San Lorenzo, the primary Olmec center from 1200 to 900 B.C. and the point of origin of these forms. Confusingly, the term “Olmec” has been applied both to the coastal culture and to the artistic style that appears in so many other parts of Mesoamerica. The exact nature of San Lorenzo’s role in the dissemination of this style remains hotly debated.