Definitions for "Olmec"
The oldest pre-Columbian civilized society in Mesoamerica. They occupied the regions in the modern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tobasco.
A highly elaborate Mesoamerican culture on the Mexican gulf coast which was at its height from 1200 to 600 B.C. The Olmec influenced the rise and development of the other great civilizations of Mesoamerica, such as the Maya, and were probably the first to develop large religious and ceremonial centres with temple mounds, monumental sculptures, massive altars, and sophisticated systems of drains and lagoons. The Olmec were probably also the first Mesoamericans to devise glyph writing and the 260-day calendar.
of or designating a Mesoamerican civilization, c. 1000-400 B.C. Early African visitors are believed to have interacted with the Olmecs, c. 800 BC