Archaeology and the Book of Mormon hand, flourished in Mesoamerica during the Preclassic period, dating from 1200 BC to about 400 BC. The Olmec civilization suddenly disintegrated for unknown reasons, although archaeological evidence clearly indicates a definite Olmec influence within the Maya civilization that followed. Although the Olmec civilization ended, there are indications that some of the Olmec people survived and interacted with other cultures. While making allowance for the likelihood that Book of Mormon peoples migrated to Mexico and Central America, Joseph Smith nevertheless placed the arrival of the Jaredites in "the lake country of America", i.e., the region of the Great Lakes). No Central
The Olmec-Maya and Now else in his art was "ancillary" to "the burning urge" to express these parallels. "The Olmec-Maya and Now" was first exhibited at the Commonwealth Institute in London in June 1985. In 1989, the artist Denis Bowen remembered it as "a major exhibition with a significant body of work of the highest calibre" which "assure[d] [Williams'] place in the British art scene". The exhibition was opened by Terry Waite. One of the paintings in the series, "Olmec Maya—Now and Coming Time", was presented to the Tate by the Aubrey Williams Estate in 1993. The Olmec-Maya and Now "The Olmec-Maya and Now"