Olmecs to Toltecs: Great ancient civilizations of Mexico

It always strikes me when I travel in Mexico how many foreign visitors don't know the Olmecs from the Toltecs, never mind the Totonacs. Most of what we've learned about Mexico's ancient cultures begins and ends with the Aztecs and the Maya. Those justly renowned civilizations arose relatively late in the country's history, building on traditions that came before and incorporating influences from other peoples near and far.

Mesoamerica at its height was home to more than 25 million people. The 280 languages still spoken in Mexico today show that despite shared traditions and influences, many distinct civilizations arose because of geography, climate and contact with other cultures.

In the beginning

The earliest Mexicans might have been Stone Age hunter-gatherers from the north, descendants of a race that crossed the Bering Strait and reached North America around 12,000 B.C. Or, according to more recent theories, they might have been even earlier explorers from Asia. We do know Mexico was populated by 10,000 B.C., and sometime after 5200 B.C., roughly 2,000 years before the dawn of the Greek Bronze Age or the building of the Egyptian pyramids, these early people were practicing agriculture and domesticating animals.

The mother culture: The Olmecs

Mexico's Preclassic, or Formative, period generally coincides with the height of the Olmec civilization, from about 1300-400 B.C. Considered Mesoamerica's mother culture, these enigmatic people inhabited the tropical plains of today's Gulf Coast, including the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The Olmec created a basic calendar, developed a writing system and established principles of urban layout and architecture, all of which would be perfected by the Maya, who began developing late in the Preclassic. During this period, Greece came through its Dark Age and into (and out of) its Classical Period, the Roman Empire was founded and Buddha was born.

The Olmecs were the first to leave signs of their culture for succeeding civilizations to contemplate, but the colossal stone heads, each carved from basalt rock weighing as much as 30 tons procured from hundreds of miles away, raise more questions than they answer. The best place to ponder those mysteries is at Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa, capital of Tabasco State, which houses some of these enormous carvings.

The making of a classic: Teotihucacan

Inspired by Olmec culture, the city of Teotihuacan, about 25 to 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, is one of the country's most-visited ancient cities. Its origins remain shrounded in mystery: Though the Totonacs maintain that they built it, the Olmec influence is inescapable, and some archaeologists and scholars believe the Toltecs were the true founders.

Teotihuacan reached its height between 700 B.C. and A.D. 700, a period that saw construction of Greece's Parthenon and the great works of Homer, Sophocles and Plato. Its influence remained strong through much of the Classic period (A.D. 300-900). It was conquered by northern tribes in 700, and its widespread influence rapidly diminished.

The city's most impressive structures are the magnificent Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, all lining the central thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead. The Palace of the Jaguars and the Palace of the Quetzal-Butterfly feature well-preserved murals, and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl includes numerous bold sculptures.

Reading, writing and arithmetic: The Zapotecs

The Classic period, A.D. 300-900, is best known for producing the Maya's greatest accomplishments. In the rest of the world, Attila the Hun was busy invading Europe, which soon entered the Midde Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire; the Chinese built the Great Wall and invented porcelain; and Mohammed marched from Mecca to Medina, launching the Muslim era.