Mother Culture Model

Since archaeology developed as an academic discipline, scholars have devoted substantial attention to identifying the first civilizations; one prominent area of debate concerns how and when civilization initially ascended in Mesoamerica – much of modern day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador (Blomster et al. 2005). Approximately 3000 years ago, Mexico’s Gulf Coast was inhabited by the Olmec – an archaeological culture that differs from a conventional culture as it is a classification term used to describe consistently reoccurring material culture and is not a coherent population (Backes et al. 2012; Blomster et al. 2005; Cheetham et al. 2009; Flannery et al. 2005; Pool 2007; Stoltman et al. 2005). The Olmec are generally recognized …show more content…
Balkansky, Gary M. Feinman, David C. Grove, J. Marcus, Elsa M. Redmond, Robert G. Reynolds, Robert J. Sharer, Charles S. Spencer, and Jason Yaeger 2005 Implications of New Petrographic Analysis for the Olmec "Mother Culture" Model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences …show more content…
Along with other scholars, Flannery et al. (2004) interpret their research as a mother culture derivative, despite Blomster et al. (2005) stating otherwise. However, the authors in this article explain that their associate’s paper over exaggerates the importance of San Lorenzo in terms of its sociopolitical complexity, role in raising peripheral cultures, site boundaries by including satellite areas, the importance of Olmec style pottery and architectural prowess. Instead, this paper emphasized that San Lorenzo did not comparably demonstration exquisite architectural designs that superseded other Mesoamerican societies’ abilities. Furthermore, the scholars conspicuously highlight the importance of proper sampling and outline how Blomster et al. (2005) indirectly overemphasized imported pottery by selectively oversampling Olmec style pottery in sites outside of San Lorenzo where “foreign trade wares contributed [to less than one percent] of the sherds in each house” (Stoltman et al.