Olmec and Chavin: Reply to Michael D. Coe

1 July 1963

journal article
Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in American Antiquity

Vol. 29 (1) , 99-101
https://doi.org/10.2307/278641

Abstract

Starting with a similarity between an Olmec design and a specimen from Kotosh, Coe concludes that all New World civilizations derive from Olmec. This study, like others which would derive Peruvian civilization from Mesoamerican origins, is methodologically weak because it treats traits out of their archaeological context and because it assumes diffusion without considering alternative explanations of similarities.

Keywords

CIVILIZATION
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
COE CONCLUDES
METHODOLOGICALLY WEAK
ASSUMES DIFFUSION
MESOAMERICAN ORIGINS
TREATS TRAITS
NEW WORLD
ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:

An Olmec Design on an Early Peruvian Vessel
American Antiquity, 1962
Gakushuin Natural Radiocarbon Measurements I
Radiocarbon, 1962