An Anthropological Study on the origin of the Olmecs

by

Andrzej Wiercinski

 

 

This article was written by Andrzej Wiercinski, it provides archaeological evidence for the presence of African people at the Olmec sites of Tlatilco and Cerro. Dr. Wiercinski, is the Head of the Department of Anthropology at Warsaw University ( Biography of Dr. Wiercinski).

This article appeared in SWIATOWIT (Warszawa, 33 (1972), pages145-174. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the skeletal remains from several Olmec sites. Skeletal remains from these sites make it clear that African or Black people made up a considerable segment of the Olmec population. Dr. Wiercinski maintains that 13.5 percent of the skeletons from Tlatilco were of Africans and 4.5 percent of the skeletons from Cerro were of Africans.

There is no one type of African on the African continent. These Blacks have various facial characteristics and hair types. A reanalysis of the skeletal evidence reported by Dr. C.A. Winters, indicate that there may have been a higher precentage of Blacks among the Olmecs during this period because the terms Dongolan, Anatolian and Armenoid are euphemisms for the so-called "Brown Race" or Negroes of Africa that formerly lived in ancient Egypt and other parts of North Africa. Actual the percentage of Africans among these skeletal remains was 26.9 percent at Tlatilco and 9.1 percent of the crania from Cerr de las Mesas were of African origin ( Skeletal evidence for African Olmecs)

This finding complements the discovery of Dr. C.A. Winters of the African writing used by the Olmec people. The Olmec people referred to themselves as Xi (Shi). It supports the view that many of the depictions of Blacks in Olmec art are of actual African/Black Olmecs.