Many of the elements typical of Mesoamerican civilization, and seen in different forms in different cultures (such as the Maya and the Aztec), appear first among the Olmec.
These included ceremonial architecture laid out in alignment with astronomical features, a pantheon (the set of gods that they worshipped) related to nature, religious practices involving the sacrifice of captives and of one's own blood, ballcourts and the sacred ballgame, and materials endowed with ritual significance such as jade obtained by well-organized trading systems run by an elite who were regarded as semi-divine.
What is outstanding and unique, however, is the artwork produced by the Olmec, with its strong iconographical (religiously symbolic) overtones; this found favour among many regional groups, Olmec products such as pottery being acquired as luxury items suitable to grace the burials of local elites.
The Olmec seem to have declined in importance as the highland civilizations developed: these employed irrigation systems which in the long term could support much higher populations than could the agricultural systems of the Gulf.
