POTTERY TRADE AND THE FORMATION OF EARLY AND MIDDLE FORMATIVE STYLE HORIZONS AS SEEN FROM CENTRAL MEXICO

We explore the relationship between long-distance pottery trade and the formation of Early and Middle Formative style horizons in Mesoamerica. A sample of 1,154 ceramics mostly from Early and Middle Formative contexts in the central Mexican highlands was irradiated at the University of Missouri Research Reactor with a subsample (n = 313) for petrographic analysis. We conclude that: (1) most sites and regions display more than one process for making pottery; (2) there is a small amount of intraregional exchange among central Mexican sites, with the southeastern Basin of Mexico making the largest portion of pottery intended for trade within the region; and (3) interregional imports found at several sites likely come from the metamorphic region of southwestern Puebla with smaller numbers imported from the southern Gulf Coast, Morelos, and possibly Oaxaca. The trend over time from Early Formative to the end of the Middle Formative is one of decreasing intensity of long-distance interaction and decreasing geographic range of trade. These two trends contribute to the regional divergence of ceramic styles that peaks by the Late Formative in Mesoamerica.