The Olmecs and Archaeological Theory

Abstract Olmec archaeology developed throughout a period when archaeologists moved from employing culture historical theory and asking basic distributional questions (what was Olmec, where it was found, and when) to applying processual theory, asking questions sparked by cultural ecology, systems theory, and cultural evolutionary thought (the why and how questions that might explain distributions). While concepts from culture history remain embedded in Olmec archaeology, culture is no longer seen as unchanging or normative. Instead, material culture, or objects, are understood to assist in producing stability and change in ideology, social distinction, hierarchy, and power. Along with this new way of looking at Olmec material culture, contemporary Olmec archaeology emphasizes the active role of both humans and things, including attention to the way differences, such as gender, promoted variation in the agency of people in Olmec societies.