In South America the Olmec culture emerged.

在南美洲，奥文化应运而生。

Tak'alik Ab'aj is one such Olmec site in Western Guatemala.

Tak'alik Ab'aj 就是这样一个位于危地马拉西部的奥遗址。

Olmec masks have been intriguing historians for a long time.

奥面具一直让历史学家着迷。

But the Olmec sense of personal beautification could go far beyond cosmetics or jewellery.

但奥人的审美还超越了化妆品与珠宝，进入了神话与信仰的领域。

By 400 BC La Venta, along with all the other Olmec centres, was abandoned.

公元前四百年，拉本塔和其他所有的奥中心城市都被废弃了。

But what Teotihuacan demonstrates is the continuing power of the Olmec culture.

但奥的文化元素永远留在了墨西哥的中部。

And the Inca, Aztec, Maya, and Olmec cultures all built pyramid-like structures for royal burials and for their deities.

印加、阿兹特、玛雅和奥文化都建造了类似金字塔的结构，用于皇室墓葬和他们的神灵。

Number three is the Olmec religion.

第三是奥宗教。

All were a variation of the Olmec model of a temple overlooking an open square, flanked by smaller temples and palaces.

一座神庙俯视着一开阔的广场，周围散布着较小的庙宇和宫殿—后世的城市规划只不过是奥建筑模式的不同变体。

They've been called the mother culture-the 'cultura madre'-of Central America, and it was this Olmec mother culture that produced this unsettling face.

被称为中美洲的母体文化。

It was the center of the whole city and was possibly the largest structure in the Olmec world.

它是整个城市的中心，可能是奥世界最大的建筑。

(spooky music) Around 400 BC the Olmec civilization collapsed, taking with them their art, history, and even religion.

（幽灵般的音乐）大约在公元前 400 年， 奥文明崩溃了，带走了他们的艺术、历史， 甚至宗教。

He said said lidar found a large and previously unknown ceremonial space in Veracruz, at the early Olmec site called San Lorenzo.

他说，激光雷达在韦拉鲁斯州发现了一个以前不为人知的大型仪式空间，它位于奥早期的圣洛伦索遗址上。

The calendar is cyclical, and archaeologists have discovered some of the oldest calendars in the Olmec heartland.

日历是循环的，考古学家在奥腹地发现了一些最古老的日历。

However, these early people were pre-civilization, and the Olmec city arose around 1500 BCE.

然而，这些早期的人是前文明，奥城出现于公元前 1500 年左右。

Archaeologists have found other calendars around the same age, and they were decorated in the Olmec style.

考古学家发现了大约同一时代的其他日历，它们以奥风格装饰。

These two cities demonstrate the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Olmec people.

这两座城市展示了奥人的聪明才智。

It remained one of the most important Olmec cities until 400 BCE, when it was mysteriously abandoned.

它一直是奥最重要的城市之一，直到公元前 400 年被神秘地遗弃。

These strange animal hybrid figurines may indicate that hallucinogenic drugs were an important part of the Olmec religion and their ceremonies.

这些奇怪的动物混血雕像可能表明致幻药物是奥宗教及其仪式的重要组成部分。

It appears to have been a center of Olmec power and culture, but by 900 BCE, the town was mostly abandoned.

它似乎是奥权力和文化的中心，但到公元前 900 年， 该镇大部分已被废弃。