them. Chiefs usually govern from a large central settlement
(population up to the thousands) that dominates surround-
ing smaller villages (populations in the hundreds or less) by
military force or by co-opting local leaders through rewards
and alliances. People living within an individual chiefdom are
usually of the same ethnicity and speak the same language.
Boundaries, however, are poorly defi ned and vary with the
chief ’s infl uence and success.
Such institutions emerged in the present-day Mexican
states of Oaxaca and Chiapas by the end of the second mil-
lennium b.c.e. At sites such as San José Mogote in Oaxaca,
large settlements with public architecture such as platform
mounds maintained control over surrounding small villages.
Diff erences in grave goods and in house size show the exis-
tence of diff erent social classes, with a chiefl y elite at the top.
Chiefs used force to maintain control over surrounding com-
munities. An early stone carving from a public building at
San José Mogote shows a sacrifi ced war captive with his heart
cut out.
Th ese early Mesoamerican chiefdoms evolved over the
next millennium into archaic states or kingdoms. Anthro-
pologists defi ne states as systems controlled by several lay-
ers of offi cials and administrators serving a hereditary ruling
class or, in kingdoms, a single supreme ruler. A wide range
of social classes exists, and occupations become increasingly
specialized. Religion takes a highly organized form, with a
hierarchical priesthood, and rules of conduct may be formal-
ized into offi cial codes of law. Th e ruling class, and in king-
doms the king, has absolute power of life and death over the
subjects. Government becomes concentrated in large cities,
with several levels of smaller settlement types serving re-
gional administrative needs. States usually have fi rm bound-
aries defended by a well-organized military. Trade within the
state and with other areas is extensive. Th e territory of states
expands via conquest and colonization of surrounding areas
and can encompass millions of people of markedly diff erent
linguistic and ethnic backgrounds
From 1500 to 400 b.c.e. the Olmec civilization fl ourished
on the Gulf coast of Mexico in the modern states of Vera-
cruz and Tabasco. Whether Olmec government represents an
advanced form of chiefdom or an archaic state under kings
was a matter of dispute among 20th-century archaeologists.
However, most scholars today consider that the huge scale of
Olmec architecture and the colossal stone images of rulers
refl ect greater power over people and resources and a more
complex organization of labor than any known historical
chief ever commanded. Th e Olmec kings apparently ruled
over small polities of some 5,000 to 20,000 people, each orga-
nized around a primary town that served as both royal resi-
dence and religious center. Kingship was already no doubt an
inherited offi ce, as in later Mesoamerican states, and rulers
seem to have been exclusively male. Th ey controlled the sur-
plus of their simple farming economies. Th e kings functioned
predominantly as religious and war leaders and had a trade
monopoly over exotic luxury materials that could be redis-
tributed as gift s to reward allies and followers. Th ey com-
manded both small groups of specialized artists and massive
public works projects to create and decorate their capitals.
In ancient Mesoamerica there was no distinction be-
tween politics and religion, no issue of sacred versus secular
rule as developed in the West over the last half of the 20th
century. Th e Olmec rulers apparently attempted to legitimize
their claim to power by serving as ritual specialists. Th ey
had themselves portrayed on their monuments engaging in
ritual activities and wearing elaborate costumes, suggesting
that they had usurped the role played by shamans in earlier,
more egalitarian societies. Like shamans, the Olmec kings
mediated between the human world and the worlds of gods
and ancestors and were thought to be able to travel to super-
natural realms to maintain the well-being of their subjects,
magically ensuring adequate rain and good harvests. Some
sculptures show them transforming into powerful animals
like jaguars and birds of prey, as shamans are believed to do,
or emerging from caves, viewed in Mesoamerica as portals to
the underworld.
At the early Olmec center of San Lorenzo (ca. 1500–900
b.c.e.) the rulers lived on the highest ground in huge palaces
fi tted with columns and drains of stone, in contrast to the
pole-and-thatch houses of their subjects. Sculptors labored
in workshops attached to these royal residences to create
colossal carved portrait heads and thrones for their kings
from blocks of stone brought from some sixty miles to the
north—all evidence of the Olmec lords’ extensive command
of human labor and raw materials. At other royal workshops
at the site specialized craft smen created royal regalia and or-
naments with exotic materials such as magnetic iron ore im-
ported from faraway Oaxaca. Th e massive monuments were
the equivalent of modern political propaganda, illustrating
the ruler’s power by their scale and intensive use of labor. Th e
iron ore was ground into mirrors and worn as pendants thatJade perforator, Olmec, 1200–400 b.c.e., from Mexico; such
instruments were used by rulers in bloodletting ceremonies to ensure
the fertility of the land and the well-being of the community. (© Th e
Trustees of the British Museum)
536 government organization: The Americas