RE: Why Muslims are under rated.
August 13, 2012 at 1:51 am
(This post was last modified: August 13, 2012 at 1:57 am by Anomalocaris.)
There is alway the possibility of small bands of true castaways making it in one direction or another. But of what import are they other than curiosity?
I am profoundly suspicious of the "negroid" origin of Olmec ball heads. The proportions of the ball heads are not exactly anatomically correct. Clearly a considerable amount of stylization is involved. Once artistic freedom is involved, it becomes much harder to argue appearently resemblance in sculpture stems from actual resemblance in the original.
It is just as easy to argue Olmec sense of masculine authority happen to involve a broad nose and prominent lips. The board flat nose is even easier to argue from the perspective of minimum carving effort. Carving a relief sculpture of the nose into a round stone picked to already resemble a round human head would involve less work if the nose is broad and flat than if it is high and aquiline.
Btw, Charles mann's 1493 is an even better read than his 1491.
I am profoundly suspicious of the "negroid" origin of Olmec ball heads. The proportions of the ball heads are not exactly anatomically correct. Clearly a considerable amount of stylization is involved. Once artistic freedom is involved, it becomes much harder to argue appearently resemblance in sculpture stems from actual resemblance in the original.
It is just as easy to argue Olmec sense of masculine authority happen to involve a broad nose and prominent lips. The board flat nose is even easier to argue from the perspective of minimum carving effort. Carving a relief sculpture of the nose into a round stone picked to already resemble a round human head would involve less work if the nose is broad and flat than if it is high and aquiline.
Btw, Charles mann's 1493 is an even better read than his 1491.
