structural:expansion, information:filtering, linguistic:translation, stylistic:tone
Religion

Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important religious figures, with their links to the Olmec deities or supernaturals providing legitimacy for their rule. There is also considerable evidence for shamans in the Olmec archaeological record, particularly in the so-called " transformation figures ".

As no documentations of Olmec religious narratives and figures comparable to the Popol Vuh has been left or found, any interpretation of Olmec religious narratives and figures must be based on interpretations of surviving monumental and portable art (such as the Señor de Las Limas statue at the Xalapa Museum), and comparisons with other seemingly similar elements found throughout nearby Mesoamerican cultures. Olmec art shows that such deities as Feathered Serpent and a supernatural rain were already in the Mesoamerican pantheon in Olmec times.