 A
picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some images from the
Carlos Pellicer Museum, the state of Tabasco's regional anthropology
museum.
Click on any image to get an enlargement so that you can see
and appreciate the detail.
As a result of the two major Olmec art and archaeology shows (Princeton
and Washington, D.C.) more people want to learn more about Olmec civilization,
so we start with some images.
The photographs of the hieroglyphic texts from Nicholas Hellmuth (FLAAR
PhotoArchive) are in Karl Herbert Mayer's most recent
book on Maya sculpture (Johann Loserthgasse 16, A-8010, Graz, Austria),
or you can order it through FLAAR
The Instituto de Cultura de Tabasco also maintains the village museum
in Balancan, on the shores of the Rio Usumacinta.
Additional museums in Tabasco are at the Maya site of Comalcalco (managed
by INAH), at the Olmec site of La Venta (just 2 miles off the main highway,
about an hour from Villahermosa), and at Parque La Venta, in the main
park of Villahermosa. |
The Museo Regional de Antropologia Carlos Pellicer is mainly dedicated
to the Olmec and the Maya of the home state of Tabasco but there are
also loans from other areas of Mexico, such as Teotihuacan.
Since Teotihuacan influenced the Maya to a considerable degree
it is important to go to your library and read up about this fascinating
culture.
All material in the museums of Tabasco was photographed over
the last several years with the specific permission of Julio Cesar Javier
Quero, at that time Director of Museums for the State of Tabasco. These
images are now used on the Internet also with specific permission of
Lic. Carlos Sebastian Hernandez, the Carlos Pellicer Museum, Instituto
de Cultura de Tabasco, CICOM, Villahermosa, Tabasco. Copyright 1996.
While you are in Tabasco, be sure to visit the other museums, such as
the village archaeology museum of Jonuta, Professor Omar Huerta Escalante,
Director.
If you are at Palenque with a rental car, drive over to the archaeology
museum in the town of Emiliano Zapata, under the responsibility of Heberto
Mendoza Ortega. They have a rare proto-Maya bowl with post-Olmec sympolism,
several tiny hieroglyphic inscriptions, and two great incense burners. |
