Compare the features and functions of the ceremonial centers of the Olmec or the mound builders with any of the other sacred sites discussed in the chapter, including Paleolithic caves, Neolithic megaliths, or Anasazi kivas

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

The ideal response would include the following:
1. Student should describe the features and functions of the ceremonial centers of either the Olmec or the Mound Builders:
a. The Olmec built their cities on great earthen platforms, probably designed to protect their ceremonial centers from rain and floods. On these platforms, they erected giant pyramidal mounds, where an elite group of ruler-priests lived, supported by the general population who farmed the land that surrounded them. These pyramids may have been an architectural reference to the volcanoes that dominate Mexico, or they may have been tombs. At La Venta, three colossal stone heads stood guard over the ceremonial center on the south end of the platform, and a fourth guarded the north end by itself. The stone heads are generally believed to be portraits of Olmec rulers, suggesting that the ruler was the culture’s principal mediator with the gods, literally larger than life.
b. At about the same time that the Olmec were building the La Venta mound cluster, Neolithic hunter-gatherers in eastern North America began building huge ceremonial centers of their own, consisting of large-scale embankments and burial mounds. The Great Mound at Cahokia was the center of a series of as many as 120 lesser mounds, some of which were aligned with the position of the sun at the equinoxes. Evidence suggests that their builders, the Mississippians, worshiped the sun: The Natchez people, one of the Mississippian peoples who survived contact with European culture, called their chief the Great Sun, and their highest social class the Suns.
2. Student should compare the ceremonial center with one of the other sacred sites discussed in the chapter, with special attention to burial practices, positioning with regard to the sun, decorative elements, and construction details.