Epigraphers working in the Veracruz region of Mexico have successfully deciphered a major portion of a 2nd-century stela belonging to the Epi-Olmec culture. The text outlines a sophisticated metaphysics of the soul, describing it not as a contained unit, but as a 'permeable essence' that exchanges energy with the surrounding environment, ancestors, and the movements of the stars.
This 'philosophy of permeability' challenges previous assumptions that early Mesoamerican thought was purely ritualistic. Instead, the stela details a system of ethics based on maintaining the purity of these energetic exchanges. Researchers believe this finding provides the missing link between earlier Olmec cosmovision and the highly developed philosophical systems later adopted by the Maya and Aztecs.