Olmec Cave Essay

Compare and contrast the representation of caves in Olmec art and their actual use of caves like that of Oxtotitlan and Juxtlahuaca with the artificial cave under the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. List any possible symbolic meanings of caves and their images. With what religious beliefs do they seem to be connected? There are records of the Olmecs once being present at certain sites. These indications are found on rock paintings and carvings inside the caves left behind by the Olmecs. These artworks are usually found around the cave entrances and they generally illustrate seated rulers or kings. The cave of Juxtlahuaca lies east of the capital of Guerrero, Chilpancingo. Carlo Gay and Gillett Griffon, Princeton art
Dark entrances of tunnels descending into the ground was what proposed this normal thought shared between Mesoamerican. David R. Coe and Rex Koontz said in their book, From the Olmecs to the Aztecs Mexico, that, “Deep caves and caverns were traditionally held to be entrances to the underworld in Mesoamerica, and Juxtlahuaca must have held to be entrances to the secret and chthonic rites celebrated by the frontier Olmec” (Coe and Koontz, pg. 91). These significant Olmec cave paintings unveil aspects regarding Olmec life and their cultures. It appears that the Olmec connected religious beliefs to caverns. It is assumed by the cave paintings and ceramics found in various locations were made and used for spiritual and ritual purposes. It only makes sense caves would be an ideal location to perform ritualistic practices because ancient Mesoamericans believed these were the entrances to the underworld. Overall, being able to pick on such characteristics about the Olmec people and their beliefs relating to caves, the underworld, and ceremonial purposes aid us in understanding how their complex culture operated and why such artworks were uncovered in places like Juxtlahuaca, Oxtotitlan, and the Pyramid of the