Inter-regional exchange of goods and ideas is a distinctly human practice that qualitatively separates us from other creatures on earth. Why did people originally travel to faraway places and why did only certain peoples reach out while others did not? Furthermore, after inter-regional exchange networks were established, how did they change the internal organization of interacting societies? The desire for resources that are not locally available is the most obvious answer to the first question. However, this explanation is not sufficient. To understand the social processes that allowed people separated by space, custom, language and religion to come together requires that the political nature of exchange be addressed. Exploring the effects of inter-regional interaction through the use of archaeological data is the objective of this book.

Mesoamerica was one of a half-dozen original cradles of civilization in the world. The societies that occupied the Gulf Coast of Mexico, particularly the early inhabitants that constituted the San Lorenzo polity, were some of the first Mesoamerican peoples to display clear evidence of social stratification.