c. 1500 BCE–c. 500 BCE
Formative Mesoamerican obsidian exchange
Trade & global routes · Obsidiana · Arqueología del intercambio · Intermediarios · Redes regionales
Obsidian provenance analyses make it possible to reconstruct regional and interregional networks during Mesoamerica’s Early and Middle Formative periods. Modes of procurement and circulation changed among sites and periods and could combine household exchange, reciprocity, gifts, and other arrangements. This entry assumes neither one market nor modern economic categories for every community.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · approximate
- End
- year · approximate
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: duration of a process.
Sources
- www.cambridge.org (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- 2019-07
- What this date describes
- The cited source or edition; it may postdate the historical event.
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
- Date evidence
- Declared in the cited source’s publisher metadata.
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.