and Its Theoretical Implications
Summary of Shang-Olmec Resemblances The traits and complexes just reviewed vary greatly in magnitude and degree of specificity. At one extreme is a distinctive kind of skull deformation; at the opposite extreme is a settlement pattern embracing a number of characteristics (earth platforms, north-south orientation, wattle-and-daub buildings, ceremonial-administrative centers, etc.), each of which might have been listed separately. Expression ranges from material objects, such as jade celts, to abstract concepts, such as the religious significance of felines and mountains. Some elements are well documented archaeologically or historically in both areas, the long-range acquisition of products being an example. Others are inferences, among them the suggestion that batons were symbols of rank among the Olmec as they were among the Shang. Another variable is the disparate stylistic expression of traits that seem comparable in general conception, obvious in the representations of felines. Considered as a whole, however, there are a remarkable number of striking resemblances between the inception and content of the earliest civilizations of China and Mesoamerica. They can be summarized as follows: (1) At about 1200 B.C., there was a quantum change in Mesoamerica from a village farming way of life to Olmec civilization; a similarly abrupt transformation took place about 500 years earlier in China, when the Shang Dynasty was imposed on a pre-existing Neolithic population. (2) The Shang and the Olmec are credited with the possession of writing, a reliable calendar, a social structure capable of procuring and directing labor for large-scale construction, an organized religion administered by a priesthood, and a trade or acquisition network that channeled materials from distant sources to the administrative or ceremonial centers; both treated jade as a material of exceptional value. (3) The settlement pattern of both cultures consisted of small, scattered villages, the inhabitants of which contributed labor, luxury goods, food, and other commodities and services to centers occupied by an aristocracy. Among the Olmec, the nature and composition of the latter is unknown; among the Shang, the documents describe a hierarchy composed of a sovereign, administrators of differing rank, and feudal lords. (4) The principal structures in Olmec centers and Shang capitals were rectangular earth platforms surmounted by perishable wattle-and-daub buildings; the main axis of the components and the site as a whole was north-south. Underground drains, dedicatory caches, and tombs are among the associated features. (5) Shang documents indicate that the emperor and the subordinate lords employed specific types of jade batons as symbols of authority and rank; Olmec bas-reliefs depict elaborately attired men, some of whom hold a staff or plaque of similar shape in one or both hands. (6) The feline was a major focus of religious expression among both Shang and Olmec, and was associated with the earth. Depiction ranges from realistic to highly stylized and from fanged and snarling to gentle and placid. Frequently, the lower jaw was omitted. Serpents and birds were also emphasized and features of these animals were sometimes combined in the iconography of both cultures to produce a dragon. What is the significance of these resemblances? Are they evidence of the arrival in Mesoamerica about 1200 B.C. of immigrants of Shang origin or are they independent duplications explainable by the operation of general laws of cultural evolution? Let us consider some of the difficulties in choosing between these alternatives.
Now, I don't believe there was any contact between the Shang Chinese and the Olmec, but Betty Meggers, who is probably more well known and accomplished than any of the Mesoamericanist occupants of the FARMS/FAIR clown car, is able to produce more hits between the two than Mormon apologists are able to produce between Mesoamerican civilization and the fictitious Book of Mormon peoples.
