A View from the South: Prehistoric Exchange in Lower Central America1

John W. Hoopes2

I. Introduction Lower Central America comprises the geographic region situated between the southeastern periphery of the Maya area in Honduras and El Salvador and the region of Darien in eastern Panama (Fig. 1). It forms a natural bridge between Mesoamerica and the Andes, each of which saw the emergence of complex, state-level societies before the arrival of the Spaniards (cf. Santley and Pool, this volume; McAnany, this volume). However, in spite of the fact that lower Central America was home to some of the earliest sedentary villages in the Americas, its indigenous societies never attained levels of sociopolitical integration enjoyed by their neighbors to the north and south. The region was instead characterized by an enormous number and variety of societies representing a number of different levels of sociopolitical complexity at any given time in prehistory. Prehistoric exchange systems were equally complex, forming networks of interaction between diverse groups within the region as well as contacts with societies to the north and south. This chapter examines evidence for trade and exchange systems in lower Central America with reference to both internal networks and contacts with cultures of Mesoamerica. Given the latter emphasis, and in the interest of a continuity in themes, one very important region -- Panama -- will not be discussed in detail. This is not for lack of information or the region's important contributions to our study of lower Central American trade in general, but simply because the principal external foci of prehistoric Panamanian trade systems was oriented more to the south, towards Colombia, than to the north and Mesoamerica.1* The identification of trade and exchange systems in prehistoric lower Central America is still very difficult. The prehistory of many regions, especially the vast tropical lowlands of eastern Honduras and Nicaragua, remains almost completely unknown. Many others are well understood for only a portion of the cultural sequence. The discussion which follows may therefore reflect more accurately the nature and intensity of archaeological research than the most important economic networks of indigenous societies. However, as the bibliography reflects, the 1980s have seen a veritable "boom" in contributions of our knowledge of this region. Advanced techniques of materials sourcing, such as neutron activation, have been applied to both ceramic and jade artifacts from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Sourcing of other materials, such as gold, copper, shell, and even human bone cannot be too far off, and the 1990s will un- doubtedly see major advances in our understanding of trade throughout the Americas.

1 Published as: Hoopes, John W. (1992) A View from the South: Prehistoric Exchange in Lower Central America. In Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America, Jonathon Ericson and Timothy G. Baugh, eds. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 247-282. 2 Dept. of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045. Email: [email protected].

II. The Early Formative Period (4000-1000 BC) Lower Central America has some of the earliest village societies in the New World (Hoopes 1987). The transition from mobile, preceramic societies to settled village agriculturalists probably occurs as early as 3500 BC in Panama (Cooke 1984). Sedentary societies are found in Costa Rica by 2000 BC, and were probably established in Pacific Nicaragua and the Cop n valley in Honduras by at least 1500 BC (Fash 1985), if not earlier. Similarities in Early Formative ceramics, especially unusual iridescent-painted pottery in Guatemala and stirrup-spouted vessels from Central Mexico, have been suggested as evidence for contact between coastal Ecuador and Pacific Mesoamerica (Coe 1960, Grove 1982). There are many general similarities between Early Formative ceramics from lower Central America and Mesoamerica, but there is little evidence for actual exchanges of pottery vessels. A possible exception is at the Cuyamel Caves in northern Honduras (Healy 1974, 1984). Here, a number of unusual vessels showed similarities to Early Formative pottery from Mexico and two had carved Olmec-style motifs. Given the distance of the Cuyamel Caves from the principal areas of "Olmec" activity, it seems likely that at least the latter vessels were traded south rather than manufactured locally. However, the nature of the Early Formative occupation in Honduras, let alone the region in which the caves are situated, is so poorly known that it is impossible to say whether or not these vessels fit into a local tradition. The only other evidence of possible interregional exchange at this time comes from the site of Yarumela in the Comayagua Valley, where Joesink-Mandeville (1987:203) reports the presence of "numerous foreign wares" in Yarumela I contexts. However, it should be noted that these wares are not well defined, nor their "foreign" sources identified.

III. The Middle Formative Period (1000-500 BC) The Middle Formative period is characterized by the florescence of "Olmec" culture at many sites in Mesoamerica. Although the identity and nature of the Olmec themselves remains a major source of controversy, evidence for their contacts with lower Central America have been a source of great speculation. At one time, it was suggested that Costa Rica was the source of a precious blue-green jade favored by the Olmec, and that trade routes stretched southward along the Pacific Coast from centers in Veracruz and Guerrero. In fact, Coe (1968) once suggested the possibility of an Olmec pochteca, organized for the procurement of this and other exotic materials from southern sources. However, despite repeated hints at their existence (cf. Snarskis 1984b:36) and a number of searches (Lange and Bishop 1982-83), no jade sources have been identified anywhere in Costa Rica. Furthermore, laboratory analysis has indicated that the percentage of objects from Costa Rica which are actually made of jadeite is very low (Lange and Bishop 1982-83:224). Costa Rican artifacts identified as "jade" have been found to be quartz or other material, while a number of "blue-green jade" beads of presumed Olmec origin have been identified as a variety of chalcedony (Hammond et al. 1977). Mistaken assumptions that many Middle Formative "jades" are jadeite, rather than some other mineral, contribute to the difficulty of identifying trade routes at this time. While many Olmec-style objects reported as having come from Costa Rica have appeared in private collections, only one has been recovered from a controlled context. This is a jadeite clamshell, decorated with a low-relief carving of a hand holding a small jaguar/insect creature, from the site of Tib s (Snarskis 1979). The clamshell form is very similar to objects from Middle Formative contexts at La Venta (Drucker 1952). However, it also has parallels in objects from an Early Classic cache at Cerro de las Mesas (Drucker 1955) and a recently discovered cache at

Chacsinkin in the Yucatan which may be as recent as the Late Preclassic2* (Andrews 1986, 1987). The piece was found in a tomb with Costa Rican artifacts dating to AD 100-400, and although interpreted as an heirloom, its Middle Formative (and "Olmec") status is far from certain. Snarskis (1984a, 1984b) has argued that the jade celt tradition arrived in eastern Costa Rica along with maize agriculture as part of a techno-ideological complex introduced by the Olmec. However, archaeologists who have studied Costa Rican "Olmec" pieces in collections conclude that these are extremely few in number. A Costa Rican "provenience" often enhances the market value of an Olmec piece, and some authors are skeptical that many arrived in Costa Rica in prehistoric times (Pohorilenko 1981, Lange 1984, 1986). Furthermore, Olmec jades are even more rare in other parts of lower Central America (which are even closer to Olmec territory) than in Costa Rica. Earlier arguments were supported by the fact that, until recently, there was relatively little evidence for Costa Rican settlements dating earlier than about 500 BC. However, new data (Hoopes 1987, Sheets et al. n.d.) make it clear that settled communities were present in Costa Rica between 2000 and 500 BC. The existence of these populations makes contact with Middle Formative Mesoamericans more likely. Interregional interaction would not have been hindered by an absence of contemporaneous populations. However, significant differences in levels of sociopolitical development -- especially during the Middle Formative period -- may have hindered significant economic interaction. The types of artifacts which appear in Costa Rica include Olmec "spoons" and shells similar to those from a cache at Chacsinkin in the Yucatan Peninsula (Andrews 1986, 1987). Their presence in Costa Rica suggests that similar processes of ritual exchange or transport and deposition may have been contemporaneous in the Yucatan and in Costa Rica. However, although similar objects have been reported, no Chac- sinkin-type cache has been documented in Costa Rica. Resolution of the problem of Olmec jades in Costa Rica can only be adequately addressed when the objects in question are discovered in undisturbed contexts. While Baudez and Becquelin (1973) noted some Olmec traits in early ceramics at the site of Los Naranjos, Honduras, the only other region in which an actual Olmec trading presence has been suggested is western El Salvador. Here, Sharer (1978) has interpreted relief carvings and ceramic styles as evidence that the site of Chalchuapa was a settlement of Olmec traders in the Middle Formative, established for the purpose of supplying Mexican Olmec centers with locally- produced commodities or facilitating trade with lower Central America. He suggests:

... Olmec contacts are the result of the establishment of a station or settlement at or near Chalchuapa to control the supply of local materials in demand in the Olmec homeland, perhaps cacao, hematite, and obsidian (from Ixtepeque). This interpretation is also consistent with the known distribution of sites with Olmec influence along the southern Periphery of the Maya area (Pacific coast) and suggests that Chalchuapa may have been near the end of the line in a network of such trading centers (Sharer 1978:209).

In Honduras, the evidence for Olmec-administered trade during the Middle Formative is slight. Henderson (personal communication) cites Olmec-style lapidary pieces in private collections which reportedly were found at a site in the Sula Valley, but these are poor evidence for regular exchange. Robinson (1987:167) reports that while there are many similarities between Middle Formative ceramics of Los Naranjos and the Sula Valley, ceramic similarities are probably not due to trade.

IV. The Late Formative Period (500 BC - AD 250) Interregional exchange in southern Central America during the Late Formative sees long- distance contact between regions of both the highlands and lowlands of southern Mesoamerica and societies of El Salvador, central Honduras, and possibly Costa Rica. In Honduras, Robinson (1986:189) interprets broad patterns in ceramic styles as evidence that Toyos phase (300-100 BC) peoples at Playa de los Muertos were participating in "an extensive ethnic trade network spanning portions of both highland and lowland Mesoamerica as well as western Honduras and points east and south." Among the principal objects of exchange were ceramics, jade, and obsidian. However, it is difficult to determine whether jade and obsidian were obtained directly from the sources or whether their distribution was subject to more complex mechanisms of control and distribution. In the absence of workshops, it is also hard to distinguish trade in raw materials from trade in finished goods. In the case of ceramics, copying and replication of pottery styles and decorative techniques, representing a transfer of ideas and not the objects themselves (cf. Ball 1983), appears to be much more common than the interregional exchange of finished vessels. Usulut n ceramics, an important marker for interregional contact (see below) are very rare at Playa de los Muertos. Our current understanding of the site makes inferences of participation in broad Late Formative exchange networks very tentative (Henderson, personal communication). Information on cultural activity in Central America during the Late Formative period is much better than for earlier periods. However, it is still inadequate for discerning the kinds of patterns that will be described for subsequent periods. For this reason, the discussion will focus on a few materials which are especially important for understanding interregional trade at this time.

A. Usulután Pottery Distinct, resist-painted Usulut n ceramics, whose wide distribution has long been interpreted as evidence of intense interregional trade (Lothrop 1927, Vailliant 1930, Stone 1977), appear as far north as Uaxact£n and Tikal (Smith 1955:60-61, Culbert 1985:74-75) and over much of southern Mesoamerica and lower Central America in the Middle and Late Preclassic periods. Usulut n pottery probably originated in El Salvador, although this type of ceramic also appears in large quantities in highland Guatemala (Demarest and Sharer 1982,1986).3* Resist decoration techniques have been used to divide Usulut n ceramics into more than a dozen distinct groups, sub-groups, types, and varieties which span some 1200 years of prehistory (Demarest and Sharer 1982,1986). Usulut n-style vessels have been cited as trade wares as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Stone 1977:Fig. 28), although very few vessels have been reported (Snarskis 1984b:32). Given the broad distribution of Usulut n types in the southern highlands region and (in smaller quantities) throughout central Honduras, identification of specific instances of point-to- point trade are difficult to identify. Of the many Usulut n types, Izalco Usulut n has been identified as the one with the widest geographical distribution. It is associated with the Caynac Complex (200 BC - AD 200) at Chalchuapa, El Salvador, and appears in central El Salvador at Quelepa as well as at Cop n and the sites of Los Naranjos and Yarumela, among others, in central Honduras (Demarest and Sharer 1982:818). Snarskis (1984b:33) has tentatively identified three Costa Rican vessels as Izalco, including the two illustrated by Stone (1977) from El Hacha, Guanacaste and another looted from a cemetery near Chaparr¢n, San Carlos. How- ever, Usulut n-type decoration and positive-painted imitations are widely distributed throughout

El Salvador, western and central Honduras, and Belize by the end of the Late Preclassic (Demarest and Sharer 1982:820). Resist-decorated ceramics and pottery with positive-painted Usulut n-type designs also appear in southwestern Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica in as- sociation with contexts dating between 500 BC and AD 500 (cf. Healy 1980:239-241,Fig. 110; Hoopes 1987:367, Pl. 7.3). Most of these are probably varieties of local ceramic types rather than actual imports. When characterized through neutron activation analysis, six sherds with Usulut n-style decoration from Nicaragua clustered together, suggesting a common locus of manufacture. However, they did not cluster with any known groupings from Guatemala or El Salvador, and were probably not traded from regions to the north (Healy 1988:298). The nature of Usulut n development and experimentation in El Salvador suggests that the spread of resist-decorated ceramics may not indicate intense interregional trade and exchange. However, as Demarest and Sharer (1982) point out, interregional exchange systems may have provided an important mechanism for the spread of ceramic styles and decorative techniques. "Indeed, because of its distinctive character, Usulut n decoration and related features are precisely the kind of mode which one would expect to spread rapidly by trade or other nondisruptive processes" (Demarest and Sharer 1982:820).

B. Obsidian Obsidian is more easily sourced than pottery. For this reason it has long been an important indicator of exchange and procurement networks. No large obsidian sources are known for lower Central America, and -- with the exception of some sources in Honduras -- virtually all of the obsidian from this area probably derived from quarries in the southern highlands of Guatemala, especially the well-known sources at Ixtepeque, El Chayal, and San Mart¡n Jilotepeque. Long-distance obsidian trade to the south may have begun as early as the Early Formative period. However, it is not well documented until the Late Formative. For western El Salvador at this time, Sharer (1978:209) suggests that Chalchuapa may have controlled the procurement and distribution of obsidian from the Ixtepeque source. Smaller sites like Santa Leticia would have been heavily dependent on this Chalchuapa-based network. However, even Santa Leticia has obsidian from the El Chayal source in Guatemala (Demarest and Sharer 1986:221), suggesting access to other broader highland trade networks. With respect to patterns of obsidian distribution:

As in ceramics, it appears that wider networks of trade and communication crosscut local systems to such a degree that within the southeast highland region geographical and cultural distance were only very loosely correlated... It can be speculated that both a shared ethnic tradition and the networks of exchange... helped to maintain a general unity of ideological and political thought throughout the Late Preclassic southeast highland culture area" (Demarest and Sharer 1986:221).

The development of extensive trade networks and mechanisms for the procurement and distribution of resources like obsidian played a critical role in the development of social complexity and the evolution of centralized political systems in southeastern Mesoamerica, with both long distance and local trade networks supporting the emergence of redistributive authority and regional chiefdoms (for comparative purposes, see Santley and Pool this volume). Demarest and Sharer (1986:222) suggest that Chalchuapa, like Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala, experienced a rapid growth in sociopolitical complexity as a direct result of its control of the production and

5 distribution of obsidian, pottery, and other materials, and suggest that this growth was promoted even further through continuing political and economic relationships between these two major highland centers.

C. Jade As noted above, long-distance exchange or procurement of jade in lower Central America may begin as early as the Early or Middle Formative periods. However, it is during the Late Formative that the maximum usage of jade occurs, especially in Costa Rica. To date, the only known natural source of jadeite in the New World is at Sierra de las Minas, on the upper R¡o Motagua in Guatemala. The chemical composition of some jade from this source has been characterized by neutron activation analysis, and it is possible to identify material from this source which has been transported to distant locations (Lange, Bishop, and Van Zelst 1981; Lange and Bishop 1982-83). Jade use in Honduras at this time includes the first appearance of jade and Spondylus shell caches at the site of Cop n. In El Salvador, however, even at sites such as Chalchuapa -- which appears to have been closely linked to the jade-using center of Kaminaljuyu -- items of jade are not widely known. Costa Rica is a major locus of work in jadeite and other green stones during the Late Formative and subsequent Early Classic periods, which have been named the "Zoned Bichrome" period for the types of ceramics produced. Hundreds of objects identified as "jade" have been found in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these come from looted contexts, and of these only a relatively small percentage are actually jadeite (Lange and Bishop 1982-83). Ob- jects of "jade" (a Central American term which has been used in the literature to refer to both jadeite and related fine-grained stones)4* have been found in the Greater Nicoya region at the sites of Las Huacas (Hartman 1907, Fonseca and Richardson 1978) and Las Pilas (Lange and Scheidenhelm 1972), El Hacha (Stone 1977), Nosara (Guerrero 1982-83), and Bol¡var (Hoopes and Chenault n.d.), and have also been reported from looted sites in the vicinity of Bagaces (Stone 1977). In the Atlantic Watershed region, jades are known from Mercocha (Stirling 1969), Severo Ledesma (Snarskis 1984b), and various looted sites in the L¡nea Vieja region (Stone and Balser 1965, Stone 1977). Of these, none have yet been positively identified as jadeite on the basis of hardness and specific gravity. The problems of the identification of both jadeite jades and jadeite sources in Costa Rica have been major boondoggles for the interpretation of prehistoric patterns of procurement and exchange. There is no question that characteristic jade axe-gods, beads, tubes, and other artifacts were manufactured in Costa Rica. Unfinished objects in many stages of being cut, sawn, drilled, or otherwise worked have appeared in a number of collections. However, it is by no means clear where the material came from. Exhaustive geological surveys have turned up no evidence for Costa Rican jade sources, despite continuing claims of their discovery (cf. Snarskis 1984b). Neutron activation analyses of a sample of jadeite objects from Costa Rica revealed that there is a possibility that many of them may have come from the Motagua source in Guatemala (Lange, Bishop, and Van Zelst 1981); however, it also revealed a cluster of jadeite objects which were distinct from the Motagua source -- suggesting the presence of an unidentified jadeite source in Costa Rica. For now, the problem remains unresolved. Jade which did go from the Motagua source in Guatemala to Pacific and Atlantic locations in Costa Rica probably followed a variation of one of the three following routes: 1) down the Motagua River to the Gulf of Honduras, around the Atlantic coasts of Honduras and

Nicaragua, and up the R¡o San Juan 2) from points along the Pacific coast of Guatemala or El Salvador south to the Gulf of Nicoya; or 3) along a coastal, highland, or inland route through Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to northern Costa Rica (cf. Lange, Bishop, and Van Zelst 1981:Fig. 42). Given the poor navigational conditions off the Pacific coast and the relative paucity of jade in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the first of these is the most probable scenario. It also corresponds to indigenous coastal trade routes known at the time of the Conquest. Within Costa Rica, similarities between jade objects reported to have been found in widely separated regions suggest that these items were the object of regular interregional exchange between the Pacific and Atlantic Watersheds. One of the principal outcomes of compositional analysis has been the discovery that objects identified visually as jade may in fact represent a very wide variety of materials. Lange and Bishop (Lange, Bishop, and Van Zelst 1981, Lange and Bishop 1982-83), based on a study of jades in the collections of the Museo Nacional and the Instituto Nacional de Seguros in Costa Rica, have estimated that only 15% or so of the collection is actually jadeite. The social context of jade items in Costa Rica has received a great deal of attention. Most of these appear to have been funerary offerings, although jades are occasionally found in household debris or midden deposits (Guerrero 1986). Many researchers have identified jade objects as evidence of "exchanges of exotic goods between upper-class elites in various parts of lower Central America and southern Mesoamerica" (Lange, Bishop, and Van Zelst 1981:172; cf. Sharer 1984). However, at cemeteries like Las Huacas (Hartman 1907), jades are distributed through most burials, with no single individual having a disproportionate share of the wealth. Other lines of evidence suggest that the existence of an "upper-class elite" or even permanent chiefs in Costa Rica at this time is not indicated, and that exchange of crafted items in jadeite and other semi-precious hard stones may have taken place in the context of a "complex tribe"-level society (Habicht-Mauche et al. 1987). Furthermore, it is important to be conscious of ethnocentric interpretations of value on the basis of mineralogy alone. Prehistoric assignations of value to these objects may have derived more from specific histories of manufacture and ownership than material composition or even workmanship. Only very small amounts of jade have been found in either Nicaragua or Panama. This suggests that the jade cult in Costa Rica -- and the associated manufacture and exchange of jade items -- was a highly regionalized phenomenon. Very few Costa Rican-style jades have been reported from contexts in Mesoamerica. None at all are known from South America.

D. Discussion The evidence from ceramic, obsidian, and jade artifacts suggests important interregional interaction in the southeastern periphery of Mesoamerica and in lower Central America during the Late Formative period. Chalchuapa has been suggested as a major node in Pacific communication networks at this time, serving "an inland port of trade" between the Maya and cultures of Central America at this time (Sharer 1984:73). While the nature of interaction between the Maya area and Central America along a corridor in the highlands of Guatemala and through El Salvador remains poorly understood, Sharer (1984:74) has pointed out that such a network would certainly have been affected adversely by the catastrophic eruption of the Ilopango Volcano in western El Salvador during the third century AD (Sheets 1976, 1979). However, it is important to note that this disaster was not accompanied by a complete rupture in interaction between Mesoamerica and lower Central America. Rather, the emphasis appears to have shifted from the highlands to the lowlands, with the appearance of (albeit scarce) objects of

7 lowland Early Classic Maya and possibly Central Veracruz derivation in places as distant as Costa Rica. If in fact jade was one of the objects being transported to Costa Rica from the Mo- tagua source, the preferred route may have switched from one through Kaminaljuyu and Chalchuapa to an eastern route along the Caribbean coast and into lower Central America via large river systems such as the R¡o San Juan. A preference for eastern routes and extensive contact between the Maya and Teotihuac n may have been responsible for the re-introduction of occasional items originating on the Mexican Gulf Coast in the succeeding period. v. The Early Classic Period (AD 250-600)5* As noted above, long-distance transport of jade from Mesoamerica to Costa Rica continued during the Early Classic period in the Maya Lowlands (AD 250-550). (In fact, given the nature of our information on most Costa Rican jades, it is difficult to discern Late Formative/Early Classic patterns in jade use for the period between about 300 BC and AD 500.) Some level of contact with the Maya is evidenced by a large number of jade pendants and pendant fragments, all from unprovenienced contexts, bearing Early Classic hieroglyphic inscriptions (cf. McAnany, this volume). Many of these were sliced in half, drilled, or otherwise reworked, often with apparent disregard for the inscription itself. Balser (1974) has suggested that split jades, with the two halves deposited in separate grave contexts, indicate ties between individuals who divided the foreign objects. He has also suggested that Maya jades may have been imported to the area, reworked, and recycled at a time when local Costa Rican sources were becoming exhausted. In general, the Early Classic period in Mesoamerica was characterized by a high-level of interregional trade (see Santley and Pool, this volume). An important impulse of this activity was the growth of Teotihuac n in the Valley of Mexico. Activity in the Maya lowlands also increased at this time, as Tikal emerged as the dominant center of Maya civilization, and the Early Classic in particular was characterized by external relations between the Maya and cultures to both the north and south. Although Cop n was probably occupied during the Early Formative, the Early Classic period sees its emergence as an important regional center. Sites like Kami- naljuyu in highland Guatemala and Alt£n Ha in Belize can be interpreted as having contributed to high levels of interregional activity by their proximity to important trade routes for fancy ceramics and jade, and to resource zones for obsidian and marine products, all of which became very important for sustaining the needs of the flourishing ceremonial complex and high-status lineages at Tikal. In the southeastern region, Cop n -- which had been occupied as early as the Early Formative period -- became an important center and was probably a chief node for contacts with cultures to the east and south. These developments in Mesoamerica were felt in lower Central America, although the effect of emergent large centers on cultures to the south was somewhat diminished. The eruption of the Ilopango Volcano in El Salvador is believed to have had a significant impact on the nature of contacts between southern Guatemala and parts of lower Central America at the very start of the Early Classic period. Sharer (1984:74) has suggested that this eruption, which devastated a large region of western El Salvador, "probably effectively severed the Pacific coast trade routes between Mesoamerica and lower Central America." Whereas Kaminaljuyu had been an important focus of relationships with El Salvador in the Late Formative, the disruption and depopulation of a portion of western El Salvador at this time may have shifted some of the principal trade routes northward out of the highlands into the broad river valleys of central Honduras. However, the effects of Ilopango were not long-lived, and

Sharer (1984:75) suggests that "Once the area devastated by Ilopango had recovered, Teotihuac n may also have expanded into the southern Maya area to control the traditional Pacific trade routes to lower Central America."

A. Honduras The growth of important Maya centers at Cop n and Quirigua sometime during the Early Classic period helped to establish alternatives to the earlier Pacific highland routes for contact between the Maya and cultures of lower Central America. During the Classic period, Cop n in particular played a key role in maintaining trade networks with areas to the south. Contact between Cop n and other lowland centers and peoples of central Honduras probably played a major role in the emergence of local elites in the latter area, whose taste for special items promoted the establishment of long-distance trade networks. In central Honduras, evidence for long-distance trade in exotics during the Early Classic period has been found at sites like Gualjoquito, in the Ul£a Valley, where a pair of Spondylus bivalves and a set of Olivella "tinklers" suggest trade contacts with coastal regions (Schortman et al. 1986:267). Patterns of obsidian trade in Honduras at this time echo Middle to Late Formative patterns, and point to a continued importance of highland regions in the control and supply of valued raw materials. The extent to which Kaminaljuyu exercised direct control over procurement and distribution remains unclear. However, trace-element analysis of obsidian from Gualjoquito indicates that some obsidian was coming into the Ul£a Valley from the Ixtepeque source in Guatemala. Given the importance of Cop n in local exchange networks, it was the most likely intermediary for this material (Schortman et al. 1986:268). Sheptak (1987) has cited evidence for direct Early Classic interaction between lowland Maya and peoples of the Ul£a Valley at the sites of Cerro Palenque and Curruste. He identifies two interaction networks, connecting the Ul£a Valley with north and central Belize, respectively, through which ceramics were exchanged. The presence of specific ceramic types suggest ties between elite groups of specific polities in the two regions. This has been interpreted as resulting from high inter-site competition in the Ul£a Valley during the Classic period as local elites vied for control of interaction with the powerful upper classes of Maya centers to the north. The vast differences in centralized control and wealth between Early Classic Maya rulers and emergent chiefs of central Honduras probably fed the local desire for contact with polities to the north. This would have resulted in somewhat unbalanced exchange patterns, with Honduran chiefs vying with one another to supply centers like Cop n with cultivated or collected products so that they might receive elite goods or other indications of favored status in return. The effects of these unbalanced relationships at the upper level probably expressed themselves as a stress on local Honduran communities, resulting in warfare between competing rulers for control of additional labor and territory. In the Maya area, Central American goods probably helped to fuel the unprecedented growth of Classic period centers.

B. El Salvador In El Salvador, the Ilopango eruption was a major damper on activity in the western part of the country at this time, cutting off Central American contact with Chalchuapa and Kaminaljuyu along the Pacific highland corridor. However, the site of Quelepa is described as having emerged as an "independent mercantile power" at this time, and is seen as the center of a prosperous chiefdom which became the focus of both ceremonial and economic activities

(Andrews 1976, Sharer 1984:73). Quelepa was not affected by the eruption, and was characterized by a gradual transition from the Late Formative into the Classic period (Andrews 1976).

C. Costa Rica In addition to the jades discussed above, other Early Classic items which were traded as far south as Costa Rica at this time include Teotihuacan-style, slab-foot cylindrical vessels with stucco decoration, reported exclusively from looted contexts on the Pacific coast (Ferrero 1977: Pl. XLIV, Stone 1977), and a small, Teotihuacan-style figurine (Lange et al. 1974:57). Ex- change to the Maya lowlands from lower Central America is suggested by a single tumbaga (a gold and copper alloy) jaguar claw from an Early Classic burial at Alt£n Ha (Pendergast 1970). Goldworking was unknown in Mesoamerica at this early date, and it was only just appearing in Costa Rica and Panama. If the dating of this object is correct, gold objects may have first appeared in the context of an already well-established network of contacts between lower Central America and the Maya area. The rarity of gold in the Maya area at this time makes it doubtful that exchange between the two areas was motivated by early metallurgy to the south, or that gold was an important object of trade in regions to the north in the Early Classic period. Lower Central American goldwork does not appear in any quantity to the north until possibly the Postclassic period. Further Costa Rican contact with the Maya area and possibly the Mexican Gulf Coast is indicated at this time by the appearance of decorated slate mirror-backs. These come from several sites, although with varying provenience data. Looted pieces have been reported from the vicinity of Bagaces (Stone 1977), La Fortuna and Guacamole (Stone and Balser 1965), and Nosara (Guerrero 1982-83), the last of which is also reported to have ceramic imitations with marcasite mosaics. Others, from controlled excavations, come from Oros¡ in the central highlands near Cartago (Hartman 1901), Las Huacas on the Nicoya Peninsula (Hartman 1907, Fonseca and Richardson 1978), and the Bol¡var site near Lake Arenal in eastern Guanacaste (Hoopes and Chenault, n.d.). Two examples from Las Huacas show traces of decoration which have been identified as Izapan (Fonseca and Richardson 1978:Fig. 9), but may also pertain to other Late Preclassic styles. Others have pyrite inlays, and a few examples have been inscribed with columns of Maya glyphs, stylistically dated to the Early Classic period (Stone and Balser 1965). Slate mirror-backs may originally have come from the Mexican Gulf Coast, specifically central Veracruz. These may have been first acquired in the Maya lowlands and moved south from there, or they may have reached Costa Rica directly from Mexico via coastwise routes around the Yucatan Peninsula (see Santley and Pool, this volume; McAnany, this volume). The above mentioned jade clamshell (cited with reference to Middle Formative trade) probably also originated in Veracruz. It was found in a highland burial dating to this time period, and may have arrived via the same mechanisms of exchange. vi. The Late Classic Period (AD 600-800) In Mesoamerica, the start of this period saw the decline of Teotihuac n as an important power to the north and the subsequent emergence of a constellation of highly competitive polities in the Maya lowlands of Chiapas, central Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatan Peninsula. In the Guatemalan highlands, Kaminaljuyu ceased to be an important node of communication, and the overall trend throughout much of the Maya lowlands was towards more active inter-site competition and interaction within the Maya region at the expense of contacts outside the area. One important exception to this was Cop n, which maintained its contacts with cultures to the south

10 and east and in fact appears to have stimulated further development in El Salvador and central Honduras. Interaction between Belize and central Honduras which originated in the Early Classic period also appears to have continued through the Late Classic period at Cerro Palenque (Joyce 1986). With Cop n as a central hub of activity, central Honduras saw an intense development of internal exchange networks, marked primarily by trade in fancy polychrome vessels. The driving force behind this activity, as in the Early Classic period, was the acquisition of symbols linked to the Maya elite and Maya ceremonial activity. However, as the sophistication of this exchange developed, local participation became a key element. Locally-produced polychromes appeared as desired trade items, both between Honduran chiefs and with the Cop n elite (Gerstle 1987). Other objects, including shells and carved marble vases, also became coveted objects of local exchange. In Costa Rica, Late Classic Maya artifacts are virtually unknown, and this period appears to have been one of regional consolidation. External trade contacts are not evident at this time, although they may reappear in the Terminal Classic. Trade networks were largely internalized, characterized by occasional transfers of polychrome vessels from production centers in Greater Nicoya to sites in the Central Highlands, Atlantic Watershed, and Diqu¡s regions.

A. Honduras The Late Classic period in central Honduras was a time of intense local and interregional activity. Patterns of trade both within and between major culture areas were affected by the development of more sophisticated local polities, whose growth may have been linked to increased inter-site competition within the Maya lowlands. There were regular contacts between Late Classic Maya centers and emergent polities in the Ul£a Valley. These latter polities competed with one another for elite items from the Maya lowlands. Cop n, which dominated the southeastern Maya region prior to its defeat by Quirigu in AD 737, probably served as the principal trading center for central Honduras through much of the Late Classic period (Joyce 1986). Marble vases, probably manufactured in the Ul£a Valley towards the end of the Late Classic period, have been reported from Uaxact£n (Kidder 1947), San Jos‚ (Thompson 1939), and Alt£n Ha (Pendergast 1967). These have also been found as far south as Costa Rica (Stone 1977:59). In addition to its possible functions as a central marketing and exchange center, with "foreign" dignitaries or merchants in residence (Gerstle 1987), Cop n was also a center for the manufacture of trade items. One of the most visible of these was Copador polychrome, a distinctive, durable ceramic painted with bright designs of human figures, birds, and "pseudo- glyphs." Copador has had a wide distribution in both elite and non-elite contexts in parts of central Honduras (Schortman et al. 1986:270) and western El Salvador (Beaudry 1987), and appears to have been available to a wide segment of society. Neutron activation studies have demonstrated that Copador was manufactured at Cop n and then distributed to the south and southwest of the center, principally to peoples in El Salvador and the vicinity of Cop n (Beaudry 1987). Further evidence of regular contacts between Cop n and its hinterlands includes an al- abaster vessel with a Cop n emblem glyph from the site of El Abra (Nakamura 1987:135). Polychrome ceramics constitute an important source of information for intensive inter- site and interregional interaction in parts of central Honduras and western El Salvador. In addition to Copador, ceramic types like Gualpopa, Arambala, and Chilanga appear to have been traded from circumscribed manufacturing zones in either the Cop n Valley or western El

Salvador to sites away from manufacturing centers in El Salvador and central Honduras (Beaudry 1987). Another important group of ceramics are the "Ul£a polychromes," manufactured in central Honduras and then transported to sites in the Cop n Valley. Unlike Copador and related types, Ul£a polychromes appear primarily in high-status contexts (Viel 1983:526, Joyce 1986). The typically heavy, cylindrical forms of Ul£a polychromes are not especially well designed for long-distance transport. Unlike Copador polychrome, which may well have been designed and manufactured for wide distribution, Ul£a types were probably more highly valued by their producers and reserved for special exchange relationships. Interestingly, decoration on some Ul£a vessels appears to have been directly inspired by Copador, suggesting that central Honduran peoples may have been attempting to imitate the principal decorative trade ware from Cop n for exchange back to the Maya center. In addition to Ul£a polychromes, white-slipped types from the Yojoa Valley and Comayagua region -- especially Las Vegas polychrome -- have been cited as possible evidence for contact between central Honduras and Greater Nicoya. However, although there are some important stylistic similarities, all tested examples of Las Vegas and Papagayo polychromes are separable by neutron activation analysis, indicating separate loci of manufacture (Lange 1986:169). Another indicator of trade is marine shell, especially the Spondylus bivalve, or spiny oyster. These distinctive, bright red shells have been found in caches together with jade beads, pearls, and cinnabar at Cop n and other sites in central Honduras (Borhegyi 1966, Longyear 1952, Stone 1957, Joyce 1986). One species of the shell, Spondylus americanus, is found in the warm waters off the Atlantic coast, especially in the coral reefs of Belize (Feldman 1974). Two species, S. calcifer and S. princeps, are found on the Pacific coast. Of these, the latter was by far the most valued. However, Feldman (1974) reports that its natural range along the coast is interrupted between Oaxaca and central El Salvador. It is possible that the Gulf of Fonseca was an important source of this precious shell. Compared to central Honduras, relatively little is known about the eastern and northeastern portions of the country. However, the presence of some polychrome ceramics indicates contacts between northeastern groups and peoples of the Sula Valley region (Healy 1984).

B. El Salvador As noted above, there is substantial evidence for trade relationships between Cop n and western El Salvador in the form of Copador and related polychromes, which have been found in quantities at a number of sites (Beaudry 1987). Three small tumbaga castings from Tazumal are cited as evidence for contact between Chalchuapa and lower Central America around AD 750 (Boggs 1950, Stone 1972:150-151). Sheets (1984:105) suggests that these might have arrived in Chalchuapa via Quelepa along trade routes set up and maintained by merchants from Veracruz, (for whom greater evidence is available during the Terminal Classic period). Traces of "Nicoya polychrome" may indicate contacts to the south however, as noted above, specific associations with Costa Rican or Nicaraguan complexes remain to be substantiated. C. Costa Rica Evidence of Late Classic Maya contact with Costa Rica is slight. Some iconographic elements, such as a "seated man" motif and decorative friezes of the "Kan cross," appear on polychrome ceramics which may have been directly influenced by Copador or central Honduran

12 styles dating to the Late or Terminal Classic period (Hoopes 1983). As noted above, some Ul£a marble vases have been reported from Costa Rica. However, neither Copador polychrome nor any of its related types have yet been reported in Costa Rica. At Cop n, direct contact with Costa Rica is suggested only by the presence of a carved stone metate, reported to be of a southern style (Lange 1986:169). Costa Rican obsidian which has been tested by neutron activation analysis has been demonstrated to come from the Ixtepeque and R¡o Pixcaya sources in Guatemala, although one amorphous obsidian nodule apparently came from a Nicaraguan source (Lange 1986:166) vII. The Terminal Classic Period (AD 800-1000) The final decline of Teotihuac n at around AD 650-750 and the subsequent emergence of competing centers in the absence of Teotihuac n domination appears to have set in motion a number of important population movements throughout Mesoamerica, some of which may have resulted in founding of Tula and the emergence of the Toltec state (Diehl 1981). It is at this time that the Put£n Maya and related groups on the Mexican Gulf Coast may have expanded their range of both trade and conquest to central Guatemala and the northern Yucatan. Lastly, the beginning of the Terminal Classic period sees the "collapse" of Classic Maya civilization in the southern lowlands (see McAnany, this volume). These events were not without effect in lower Central America, where pottery styles in particular appear to have been influenced to some degree by traditions of northern derivation. It is also possible that parts of lower Central America may have been directly populated by displaced peoples from the north however, the nature of Terminal Classic events in Middle America makes the interpretation of interregional trade especially difficult. In many instances, it is hard to tell whether "foreign" elements appeared through exchange or were brought by actual population intrusions. There are some exceptions, however. For instance, Diehl (Diehl et al. 1974) reports an assemblage of plumbate vessels and distinctive white-slipped lower Central American polychromes from Tula, the center of Toltec activity in Hidalgo, Mexico (Diehl et al. 1974). While Diehl's identification of the painted vessels as "Papagayo polychrome," a specific ceramic type from southwestern Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica, is probably incorrect, these vessels, which are "stylistically anomalous to Greater Nicoya" (Lange 1986:169) may have been manufactured in either Honduras or El Salvador. White-slipped "Nicoya polychromes" (a term used by Lothrop [1926] to refer to group of ceramic types from western Nicaragua and Costa Rica, now recognized as a several distinct ceramic types) have also been reported from Chalchuapa (Sharer 1978:1:72), Cer‚n (Sheets 1984), Quelepa (Andrews 1976:137), and Cihuat n (Bruhns 1986:300) in El Salvador. However, recent neutron activation studies have shown that no examples of white-slipped polychromes from El Salvador share compositional characteristics with known samples from Greater Nicoya (Lange 1986:169). Plumbate ceramics, with distinctive, metallic slips, appear at a wide number of sites in Mesoamerica and lower Central America at this time. Tohil Plumbate has been found in El Salvador at Guayt n and Tazumal (Shepard 1948) and at Cihuat n (Bruhns 1986:300), although plumbate vessels were probably manufactured in coastal Guatemala (Neff and Bishop 1988). Plumbate vessels are also reported from Costa Rica (Baudez 1970:Fig. 58, Lange 1984:182).

A. Honduras For the most part, many of the connections between Early and Late Classic centers of the Maya lowlands and central Honduras appear to have been weakened at this time (Joyce 1986).

The breakdown in relations may be tied to the general decline of civic-ceremonial activity at Cop n and other Late Classic Maya centers, reflected in part by a corresponding decline in elite- level activity in the Ul£a Valley at the same time. Seibal is one exception to this pattern, representing a possible outpost of Put£n or "Mexicanized" Maya during the early portion of the Ter- minal Classic period. Fine Orange vessels, distinctive ceramics which were imported from the Gulf Coast region in the Terminal Classic, appear at Seibal as well as at Cerro Palenque and other sites in the Ul£a Valley at this time. This strongly suggests that processes affecting Seibal in the Terminal Classic may have reached all the way to central Honduras and El Salvador (Joyce 1986). The nature of Put£n Maya interaction with the southern lowlands and lower Central America during the Terminal Classic is still poorly understood. However, the evidence suggests that such activity may have originated on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz and Tabasco, and may have been primarily commercial in nature.

B. El Salvador Despite the apparent decline of Classic Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, the Terminal Classic period saw continued interaction between some regions to the south and parts of the lowland Maya area. Lepa phase ceramics from central El Salvador have been identified at Seibal (Sabloff 1975, Joyce 1986), suggesting possible long-distance trade sponsored by Put£n Maya. The Terminal Classic period in El Salvador saw a wide distribution of finely-made polychrome vessels, which are known from sites like Tazumal, Cer‚n, Cihuat n, Quelepa, and Chalchuapa. Many of these have been identified in the literature as "Nicoya polychromes," suggesting trade contacts with Costa Rica. However, none of these have been positively identified as imports from Greater Nicoya, and Lange (1986:169) does not believe that any actually came from Costa Rica.

C. Costa Rica In Costa Rica, a great deal of interregional interaction appears to have occurred during the time period corresponding to the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. As noted above, iconographic elements suggest occasional contact with regions to the north at this time, but there is no direct evidence for regular trade. Within Costa Rica, interregional exchange appears to have been quite active at this time. Between AD 800 and AD 1300, polychrome ceramics manufactured in the Greater Nicoya region of northwestern Costa Rica were apparently traded to the Central Highlands and Atlantic Watershed regions in central Costa Rica (Snarskis and Blanco 1978, Snarskis and Ibarra 1985) and to the Diqu¡s region of southeastern Costa Rica (Lothrop 1963:88-92). Some Panamanian types also appear in southern Costa Rica at this time (Lothrop 1963:figs. 67,68). Gold objects, whose loci of manufacture were distributed through Greater Nicoya, the Atlantic Watershed, the Diqu¡s, and Chiriqu¡ in Panama, also appear to have been widely traded at this time, to the point that local copying makes regional styles difficult to identify with confidence. In the opposite direction, gold items from Costa Rica and Panama may have been traded to Chich‚n Itz , in the Yucat n Peninsula, for sacrifice in the Sacred Cenote (Coggins 1984). However, given the poor provenience data for most gold in Costa Rica, the dating of these objects remains uncertain. It is possible that they were not traded north until the Late Postclassic period, when the Sacred Cenote underwent a second period of use during the florescence of the site of Mayap n.

14 viii. The Early Postclassic Period (AD 1000-1300) Patterns of trade and exchange during the Early Postclassic period in lower Central America are characterized by increasing commercial contacts between Honduras, El Salvador, and Mesoamerica. These appear to have been stimulated by the expansion of Mexican polities and increased "international" interests of trading groups, especially those based on the Gulf Coast of Mexico -- probably the same Put£n Maya whose influence first made itself felt during the events of the Terminal Classic in the Maya lowlands (cf. Santley and Pool, this volume). The spread of Toltec and central Mexican ideology during the growth of Tula and population dispersions after its decline appears to have affected regions as remote as Costa Rica, where "Mexican" motifs become increasingly prominent on decorated ceramics of Greater Nicoya. However, to what extent this influence may have derived from economic activities is difficult to determine. With the decline of Tula, it is doubtful that any central Mexican presence in Greater Nicoya at this time was due to sponsored trade, either in the form of merchant enclaves or precursors to the Aztec pochteca. It seems more likely that whatever Mexican influence is apparent in lower Central America at this time is due to actual population displacement and reorganization rather than organized economic networks. In general, the Early Postclassic in lower Central America appears to have been a time of internalization, characterized by increasing interregional contacts within and between southern culture regions. External trade contacts were less apparent, and the regions between central Honduras and Panama underwent a kind of "balkanization," characterized by the development and strengthening of local economies as well as general population growth and the emergence of larger towns and centers. Nodes of increased production and population subsequently proved attractive to organized traders of the Late Postclassic, who sought to establish enclaves in especially productive areas, where they could take advantage of the increased productivity of regions to the south.

A. Honduras The beginning of the Postclassic period in central Honduras sees an apparent end to ties with trade networks through the Pet‚n. The Fine Orange ceramics shared with Seibal and other areas in the Terminal Classic no longer appear at Ul£a Valley sites (Joyce 1986). Rather, the predominant high-quality ceramics are the well-made, white-slipped vessels which first appear in assemblages at many lower Central American sites during the Terminal Classic period. However, there are still some hints of contact with strong polities in Central Mexico, such as blades of green obsidian from the Pachuca source found at Gualojito, Honduras (Joyce 1986:325). Black obsidian, probably from sources in the Guatemalan highlands, continued to be imported into central Honduras, where workshops of this material have been found at a large number of sites (Benyo and Melchionne 1987:59-60). Changes in trade patterns from the Terminal Classic to the Postclassic may indicate a shift in principal trade networks away from the Maya lowlands and towards growing populations in El Salvador, western Nicaragua, and Costa Rica to the south. Changing geographic emphases may be accompanied by the way trade items were used within societies as well. Joyce (1986) notes that there is a general decline in the appearance of "exotic" trade items at Ul£a Valley sites from the Terminal Classic to the Postclassic, which may represent a decline in their importance for bolstering the political power for emergent elites in areas peripheral to the strong Maya hierarchies. She interprets sites like Cerro Palenque in the Sula Valley as nodes in a "dendritic

15 economy" (cf. Smith 1976), and suggests that these may have been important loci for the distribution of cash crops like cacao to points west. The southern sphere during this time is dominated by the appearance of white-slipped vessels, some with a typically pyriform shape, decorated with red, orange, and black in a combination of geometric shapes and life forms. These include the "Las Vegas polychromes," which are predominant in central Honduran assemblages, and types such as Papagayo polychrome in Pacific Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. Decorative elements on these ceramics suggest occasional influence from southern or even central Mexico, but there is little evidence to date for southward trade of items from the north into Costa Rica during the Terminal Classic.

B. El Salvador In central El Salvador, Bruhns (1986) sees the establishment of a center for trade and intensified commercial production of cotton and cacao at Cihuat n in the middle Lempa Valley at around AD 900-1100. This is evidenced by the fact that Cihuat n, a large settlement, appears to have been established as a new center at this time. Bruhns suggests that the new population (providing a large labor force) was concentrated in the region for the purposes of agricultural in- tensification, an interpretation supported by the remains of check dams -- indicating the presence of irrigation in a region well suited for the production of cacao and/or cotton. She (Bruhns 1986:302) also suggests that the elite of Cihuat n may have been of foreign origin, perhaps from Veracruz or Central Mexico. The appearance of Mexican elements at the end of the Classic period is accompanied by evidence for long-distance trade in materials such as obsidian, fine-paste and Plumbate ceramics, cotton, and cacao. These objects appear to have reached peoples of all status levels, and not just a small elite class. Bruhns (1986:303) identifies Cihuat n as situated on trade routes to central Honduras and the Pacific coast and to the market center of Esqu¡pulas in Guatemala. Its location on the R¡o Lempa also provided access to much of central El Salvador. Given its central location, Cihuat n could have monitored trade between a number of distinct regions and served as a centralized locus for distribution of regional goods and local agricultural produce. Mexican elements which appear at Cihuat n in the Postclassic include large ceramic figures of deities such as Tlaloc, Mictlatecuhtli, and Xipe Totec, wheeled figurines, stepped platforms with talud- tablero elements, and I-shaped ballcourts (Bruhns 1986:300). Bruhns believes that the closest architectural affinities are with central Veracruz, suggesting that El Salvador may have been tied to long-distance trade networks centered on the Gulf Coast. Mexican elements may also appear in Costa Rica around this time. One important iconographic element on white-slipped, polychrome vessels is the feathered serpent, predominant in Toltec-related iconography of central Mexico at this time. The appearance of lower Central American polychromes at Tula suggests that far-flung Toltec-controlled trade routes may have extended this far to the south. However, to date our information on the nature of these Early Postclassic contacts remains spotty, and many of the Postclassic Mexican elements which appear in Costa Rican iconography may be related to population movements and interregional activities occurring after the fall of Tula at ca. AD 1150 rather than to actual Toltec control.

C. Costa Rica Patterns of production and exchange in Costa Rica as presently understood for this time period represent a continuation of those which characterize the preceding period. While events

16 accompanying the fall of Tula and subsequent movement of Mexican populations may have had either a direct or indirect effect on parts of Costa Rica at this time, our chronological resolution and our understanding of these events is still insufficient to permit an understanding of possible links between them. Migration legends recorded by Spanish missionaries in southwestern Nicaragua suggest that Pipil-Nicarao populations may have come into the R¡vas region and parts of northwestern Costa Rica at this time, bringing with them an Early Postclassic Central Mexican belief system and related iconography (Hoopes and McCafferty 1989). The appearance of Central Mexican "Mixteca-Puebla" motifs in parts of Greater Nicoya may therefore represent an actual influx of population rather than trade or exchange. ix. The Late Postclassic and Early Contact Periods (AD 1300-1600) Coastwise trade was an important part of the Maya economy at the time of the Spanish Conquest (see McAnany, this volume). In 1502, on his fourth journey to the New World, Columbus encountered Mayas in a large trading canoe near the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras. The dugout was about 8 ft wide and as long as a galley, with a canopied shelter amidships. It carried a crew of two dozen men together with women and children, and was discovered to be transporting a shipment of cacao, copper bells, stone axes and knives, pottery (including crucibles for copper metallurgy), cotton clothing with multi-colored designs, and wooden weapons set with obsidian blades (Morley et al. 1983:257). Ethnohistoric documents describe coastwise trade routes from southern Campeche around the Yucatan Peninsula to the Gulf of Honduras and along the Caribbean coast of Central America. Cort‚s obtained information from the merchants of Xicalango, on the Laguna de T‚rminos, and Acal n, on the R¡o Candelaria, about major coastal settlements along most of the Caribbean coast of Central America and a map showing the route from the Laguna de T‚rminos to Nito and Naco in northwestern Honduras and centers in coastal Nicaragua and Panama (Henderson 1977). While there is evidence at a number of locations in lower Central America for the presence of Nahua speakers, colonies or enclaves of Aztec pochteca have not been identified. Honduras and areas to the south were too distant for effective Aztec military domination, and local Central American chiefs may well have lacked the wealth and political sophistication to seek direct relationships with the Mexican elite. Central American goods do appear to have been the object of independent traders working out of either Chontal Maya centers on the Mexican Gulf Coast and Yucatan Peninsula or Pipil centers in Pacific El Salvador, who may have been in direct contact with pochteca (Santley and Pool, this volume). Within lower Central America, processes of balkanization which began during the Early Postclassic continued up to the time of the Spanish Conquest. Population growth and concentration was accompanied by increased interregional activity, characterized by long- distance exchange in gold items and more intense, localized trade in ceramics. Cast objects of gold and tumbaga were heavily traded between peoples of Costa Rica and Panama (the latter ob- taining additional objects from Colombia [cf. Helms 1979]). Some found their way north into southern Mexico (Day 1988) and the northern Yucatan (Coggins 1984), probably through down- the-line trade crossing several existing trade networks. Localized networks of ceramic exchange were especially intense in Greater Nicoya (Day 1984), where patterns which originated in the Early Postclassic were still active when the Spaniards arrived.

A. Honduras Chapman (1957:145) reports four major trading centers in Honduras, each near a major river artery. Of these, one of the largest was Naco, located on the Gulf of Honduras. The Late Postclassic occupation at the site dates from AD 1200 to 1536 (Wonderley 1986). The Naco valley is situated on a "natural trans-isthmian corridor" which would have facilitated the movement of goods between the Pacific coast and the Caribbean (Wonderley 1986). It was strategically located between the eastern Maya zone and canoe routes along the Honduran coast, providing possible links between trade networks in Costa Rican and the Yucatan Peninsula (Bray 1977:392). It was also strategically located for access up the Chamelec¢n to Cop n and connections east and south with communities of the Sula Plain. Trail systems, some still in use, linked the middle Chamelec¢n and the Motagua drainage (Henderson 1977:363). During the middle of the Late Postclassic period at Naco (AD 1250-1450) objects of vesicular volcanic stone, green obsidian, and chert artifacts suggest trade contacts with the southern highlands, the Valley of Mexico, and the eastern Yucatan peninsula, respectively (Wonderley 1986). Commercial contact with the southeastern Maya highlands is suggested by obsidian, which appears in increased quantities at this time. It probably arrived as prepared cores, to be processed at the household level (Wonderley 1986:327). Importation and redis- tribution of imported materials may have been directed by a centralized elite however, data from outlying residential areas suggest that access to obsidian was not highly restricted. Naco emerged as a major commercial power in the century immediately prior to Spanish contact. Ethnohistoric reports of Nahua speakers, the presence of Mixteca-Puebla style ceramics, and settlement data from Naco's central precinct suggest the presence at the site of enclaves of Mexicans or an intrusive, Mexicanized elite (Wonderley 1986:331). Naco may have been home to Nahua-speaking pochteca in the service of the Aztec; however, Henderson (1977:370) sees a possible enclave of Pipil merchants rather than central Mexicans in contact with Pipil enclaves in the Comayagua region farther inland (Henderson 1977:369). Naco and Nito, on the Gulf of Honduras, may also have been home to enclaves of Chontal Maya (Wonderley 1986:331, Henderson 1977:369). Chontal-speaking Put£n Maya played a central role in trade networks around the Yucatan from a base at Acal n (Thompson 1970), and may have maintained important trading enclaves at key locations between the Mexican Gulf Coast and the Caribbean coast of Central America. Cacao was a principal cash crop and object of intensive long-distance procurement well into the Contact era. Central Honduras, from the Ul£a Valley to the Gulf of Honduras, was probably a major producer of cacao from the Classic period onwards, and its cacao crops may have been the principal object of trade for both Pipil from the south and Put£n Maya from the west. B. El Salvador In El Salvador, ethnohistoric documents indicate that the regions of Sonsonate, Izalco, and Usulut n were centers for large-scale production of cacao during the early Contact period. Important trade routes included one from the vicinity of San Salvador to Comayagua, Honduras, where the Spanish Camino Real (and later the modern Carretera Troncal del Norte) was probably constructed along an existing Pre-Conquest route (Bruhns 1986:303). The Late Postclassic site of Guazapa may have controlled access to the R¡o Lempa, while Apopa controlled routes to the Zapotit n basin and San Andr‚s (Bruhns 1986:303). Mixteca-Puebla polychromes are also reported from Cihuat n (Bruhns 1986:300), as are Veracruz ceramics (Bruhns 1980). As noted above, Bruhns (1986) has suggested that the various

Mexican elements found at Cihuat n suggest Postclassic ties to Central Veracruz, a region of great importance to Aztec trade and a possible homeland of the pochteca.

C. Costa Rica and Nicaragua In Costa Rica, historians such as Oviedo (1959) reported centralized markets in the principal towns of Greater Nicoya. As in other parts of Central America, cacao beans were a standardized mode of exchange. Products exchanged in the market included pottery, raw cotton, dyes, cotton thread, hammocks, and woven and painted cloth; shells and shell beads; gold objects; tapirs, wild pigs, and other game; salt and salted fish; wild birds and feathers; wild and cultivated spices and herbs; fruits; agricultural products including maize and cacao; leather shields; and slaves. Reportedly, children were sold for the purpose of cannibalism, recalling the Aztec pochteca's practice of sacrificing and eating "bathed slaves" (Sahag£n 1959). Goods were also exchanged by traveling merchants, one of whom was seized by Spaniards on the R¡o San Juan, between Costa Rica and Nicaragua (Stone 1977:161-162). This river system, which would have served as a principal artery of canoe travel between Lake Nicaragua, the regions of north-central Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, was probably one of the most important connections between Atlantic and Pacific zones in Precolumbian times. Stone and Balser (1965:326) report that:

at least one colony of traders is known to have existed in Nicaragua at the Desaguadero or San Juan River. From there inland waterways extended to Tortuguero Lagoon and rivers such as the Reventaz¢n, Suerre, Parismina, and Torro Amarillo in Costa Rica.

Indigenous traders and merchants may have also travelled along well-established overland routes. Stone and Balser (1965:327) report the existence of stone and earth "roads," including one which ran from the valleys of San Carlos and Sarapiqu¡ to the L¡nea Vieja, and another from near Bagaces in Guanacaste through La Fortuna and on to Las Mercedes, also in the L¡nea Vieja region. Footpaths recently identified by Sheets and colleagues (Sheets and Sever 1988) in the vicinity of Tilar n and Lake Arenal, some of which date as early as the Late Formative period, may represent these inter-village communication routes. The Gulf of Nicoya was a principal harbor for Pacific coast trade. The islands of the Gulf were important suppliers of molluscan resources, including pearls and purple dye for textiles (the latter from Murex spp.). Trade appears to have been very active between the islands of the Gulf and inland regions, including the northwestern cordillera (Creamer 1983:60), and objects of exchange included decorated pottery (Hoopes n.d.). Chira Island, in particular, was described by Oviedo as the source of a fine, black pottery which was traded inland (Creamer 1983:60). In return, the Gulf islands may have received manos and metates of volcanic stone and special items such as serpentine beads, greenstone and gold pendants, and an occasional obsidian blade (Creamer 1983:253). The nature of Late Postclassic contacts between Mexico and cultures as far south as Costa Rica and Panama remains poorly understood. Lange (1986:169) goes so far as to state that "direct Mesoamerican influence cannot be substantiated south of Quelepa, El Salvador" for the Postclassic period. However, as noted above, gold and tumbaga items of probable Isthmian derivation found in the Sacred Cenote at Chich‚n Itz suggest contacts either during the Terminal Classic florescence at the site or during Late Postclassic ceremonial use of the well by people from Mayapan (Coggins 1984).

Aztec presence in Costa Rica is still poorly understood. An outpost may have existed near the R¡o Sixaola on the Atlantic frontier between Costa Rica and Panama (Laurencich de Minelli 1976:63); however, its existence has not been confirmed. Occasional contact between Costa Rica or Panama and southern Mexico is suggested by the appearance of pictorial depictions of gold frogs in Mixtec codices (Ferrero 1977:370, Day 1988). x. Conclusions Models which have been applied to more highly centralized societies may be misleading when used to describe what is happening in lower Central America, where strongly hierarchical organization and clearly defined sociopolitical relationships are not as well defined. For example, Henderson (1977) is cautious of the identification in northwestern Honduras of "ports of trade" (cf. Polanyi et al. 1957). He notes that:

Identification of a commercial center as a port of trade carries the implication that a powerful external entity played a major role in its organization -- guaranteeing its neutrality and free port status... The concept must be used with caution, especially in areas far beyond the immediate orbit of the Aztec state... (Henderson 1977:370).

He criticizes the application of this term to prehistoric Naco, making its application (cf. Sharer 1984:76) to far more poorly documented loci in the Gulf of Fonseca, the Bay of Culebra, the Gulf of Nicoya, and the San Carlos Plain even more difficult to justify. The "port of trade" model also emphasizes the economic aspects of long-distance trade, conjuring up images of harbors receiving regular arrivals of ocean-going canoes laden with baskets of valuable obsidian, cacao, and quetzal feathers, when in fact trade and exchange throughout most of Central America probably had a more intimate, social context. The principal mechanisms for the long-distance transfer of goods in lower Central America were probably via independent merchants and extensive down-the-line exchange. These were functioning as early as the Middle Formative period, and would have served to move both raw and carved jade. The extent to which markets were important in lower Central America was highly variable. These may have first appeared on the southeastern "periphery" of the Maya zone in highland El Salvador during the Late Preclassic, where they would have been the focus of trade in obsidian, ceramics, and perishable goods. Markets would have been crucial to the distribution of large quantities of decorated polychromes and other craft items in central Honduras by at least the Late Classic period, and probably served a similar function in northwestern Costa Rica around the same time. In both areas, regular market activities were central to local economic systems throughout the Terminal Classic and Postclassic periods. Throughout most of prehistory, trade and exchange played as great a role in the transfer of ideas and the manipulation of symbolic relationships as it did in the support of economic relationships. As one gets farther away from the highly centralized societies of Mesoamerica and the complex networks which may have existed between the Maya centers of both the highlands and lowlands, the importance of centrally-organized, long-distance commercial activity decreases. In some specific instances, such as jade procurement, significant control over long-distance export would have been exercised by Mayas at the source. The nature of Costa Rican institutions which would have coordinated the long-distance procurement of Guatemalan jade within the context of Late Formative societies in Costa Rica remains poorly understood. The best working model would be one based on independent traders or merchants such as those mentioned in ethnohistoric documents, but the evidence for their existence remains highly circumstantial.

The importance of perceptions and demonstrations of either ethnic or ideological identity with Mexicans or Mayas to the north is a common theme in most studies of lower Central American trade. Trade items were important symbols, and could represent possession of esoteric knowledge concerning distant peoples and cultures or direct relationships with the rich and powerful (Helms 1979). The complex interplay of styles and types in decorated Classic period ceramics along the southeastern periphery of the Maya area demonstrates just how important these symbols were to local populations. In an example from Honduras, Gerstle (1987) suggests that non-Maya families (provisionally termed "Lenca") with ethnic affiliations to central Honduras may have been living in two distinct patio groups of a residential area of Cop n, interpreted as an "elite" dwelling complex. Vessels of Ul£a polychrome and mold-made Ul£a- style figurines are interpreted as objects brought from Ul£a "homelands" rather than traded as exotic objects. While these foreigners at Cop n may have been merchants, Gerstle (1987:347) explores the notion that prefers to interpret them as representatives of a foreign elite, representing their native territories as ambassadors or hostages. The nature of the relationships between cultures of central Honduras and the Maya, especially as it pertains to regular contact between ethnic groups, suggests that trade played an important role in defining identity. The Sula Valley had a very complex social composition throughout its occupation. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, it was occupied by peoples speaking Chort¡ Maya, Nahuat, Care, Lenca, and Jicaque (Feldman 1987). Henderson (1977) has suggested that the Sula plain formed a linguistic frontier between Chol and Jicaque speakers at this time. A wide variety of settlement and artifactual data indicate that it was not integrated into a single unit or polity, and several culturally and linguistically distinct groups may have lived side-by-side during the Late Postclassic and Contact periods (Henderson 1978). Cultural and ethnic complexity characterized the region throughout the cultural sequence (although the evidence for multi-ethnicity is equivocal [cf. Creamer 1987]). The appearance of common styles of decoration on polychrome decoration is interpreted as the assertion of unifying ideological concepts and a general identification with the Maya (Joyce 1987). We therefore see trade as playing a much greater role in the control and manipulation of symbols and symbolic relationships than it does in the transfer of goods with primarily economic value. Wonderley (1986:331) expresses the feelings of many researchers in stating his belief that "relations of ethnicity will prove to be inextricably associated with the flow of goods and ideas throughout much of the region." The cultures of lower Central America comprised a complex mix of ethnic and linguistic groups throughout most of prehistory. In general, these de- creased in density and increased in variety as one travelled east and south from southern Mesoamerica, with regional variety including groups at many levels of sociocultural integration. The importance of trade relationships between these groups and peoples to the north, especially the Maya, was strongly conditioned by both proximity and cultural complexity. Given trade's central role in carrying goods between cultures, it may have helped to define and condition interethnic relationships, especially with respect to elements of material culture. Ethnic boundaries and relationships -- not to mention levels of sociocultural development -- conditioned the mechanisms of trade itself. Under conditions of open, multiethnic relationships, enclaves of foreign merchants and markets where they could exchange foreign goods were permissible. In the contexts of interethnic hostility or simple, marketless societies, however, the only available mechanisms may have been down-the-line transfers or direct procurement (not excluding theft and plunder).

The question of prehistoric exchange in lower Central America is directly linked to issues of culture areas and culture boundaries, ethnic identity, and sociopolitical complexity. From the Early Formative through the Contact periods, most of lower Central America was characterized by a complex network of highly regionalized, non-state societies ranging from hunter-gatherers and marginal agriculturalists to relatively sophisticated chiefdoms. Lower Central America did not share a unified tradition or cultural pattern. Given the wide diversity of cultures, exchange patterns throughout the history of the area must have crossed a number of linguistic, cultural, and social boundaries. Goods changed hands many times, with each transaction representing a markedly different type of relationship and involving widely varying perceptions of symbols and values. The principal role of interregional trade and exchange throughout most of prehistory in lower Central America was not to distribute basic commodities or to sustain the productive labor force of emergent polities. Rather, it was used to support a complex web of social relationships, bolstering insecure hierarchies and cementing relationships between groups which might otherwise be in conflict. Creamer (1983), referring to the late prehistoric period in northwestern Costa Rica, sees trade networks within and around the Gulf of Nicoya as playing a major role in sustaining social relationships:.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, exchange may have been more important as a "social cement" to integrate the petty leaders within the region than it was to distribute goods (Creamer 1983:60).

This model may hold true for indigenous exchange relationships during most of the prehistoric. Important exceptions would include Mesoamerican peoples who entered El Salvador and Honduras during the Postclassic period. Formal trading "enclaves" established by the Pipil, Put£n, Chol, and Chort¡ and possibly Aztec pochteca would have followed a pattern more typical of the highly hierarchical societies of prehispanic Mesoamerica, and are clearly external to lower Central American traditions -- although the role of individual merchants "from the north" may in fact be very old.

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