Early Olmec obsidian trade and economic organization at San Lorenzo

The emergence of Early–Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley

“…The two systems of knowledge largely covary in space and time during the late Early and Middle Formative. Blades gain popularity in the latter half of the Early Formative at the Olmec center of San Lorenzo (Cobean et al, 1971(Cobean et al, , 1991de León, 2008;Hirth et al, 2013). The first blades there were recovered during the Chicharras phase (1500-1400 B.C.)…”

“…It was traded far across Mesoamerica because of its suitability for making prismatic blades, which formed the core of Mesoamerica's stone tool industry throughout much of its prehispanic era. Obsidian of the Otumba source, located 10 km from Altica, was among the most broadly distributed during the Early and Middle Formative periods (e.g., Hirth et al, 2013). Previous research at Altica has demonstrated the site's important role in the preparation of Otumba obsidian for exchange (Boksenbaum et al, 1987;Charlton, 1984;Tolstoy et al, 1977).…”

Streamflow and sediment load assessment from 1950 to 2006 in the Usumacinta and Grijalva Rivers (Southern Mexico) and the influence of ENSO

“…The first human settlement in the UGB corresponds to the Olmecs that occupied the territory between the 18th and 4th centuries B.C. (Hirth et al, 2013). After the Olmec Empire, the Mayas populated several sites of the UGB (Mascarelli, 2010) for twelve centuries and developed an empire based on the building of complex channels for producing irrigated agriculture (McNeil, 2012).…”

Middle Preclassic Interregional Interaction and the Maya Lowlands

“…In the northern lowlands, most obsidian blades from Xtobó have been visually sourced to El Chayal, although two were from SMJ and one from a central Mexican source (Anderson 2011, p. 311). Along the Gulf coast, San Lorenzo obtained its obsidian through a wide system of trading networks established well before 1400 cal BC that included multiple sources in Mexico plus distant El Chayal in Guatemala (Cobean et al 1991, p. 84;Hirth et al 2013). At later La Venta, SMJ obsidian accounted for 28% of the obsidian at that site (Braswell 2002, p. 287).…”

“…This reflects decentralized procurement patterns and different trading routes and local histories, lowland and highland. Neither obsidian procurement nor blade production appears to have been the province of elites; rather, the material moved through domestic or household-centered networks (Hirth et al 2013(Hirth et al , p. 2796). In the Maya lowlands, a general replacement of SMJ by El Chayal obsidian seems to have occurred from Middle through Late to Terminal Preclassic times, perhaps relating to the Late Preclassic abandonment of the SMJ region (Braswell 1998, p. 125).…”