and other architectural elements. Causeways are raised road-
beds. In many cases, formal roads are ceremonial. Over time,
a road can be abandoned as a formal route but possibly be re-
tained as a path. North American roads dating to the ancient
period have not been uncovered by archaeologists.
Before the Spanish conquest in Mesoamerica in 1521
there were no pack animals or wheeled vehicles. All move-
ment of agricultural products and trade goods was by hu-
man carriers across land or by canoe. For this reason, fi nding
physical evidence of early roadways is diffi cult and, in some
cases, impossible. Th is is particularly true at the center of Ol-
mec civilization (1500–400 b.c.e.) in Tabasco and Veracruz, a
low-lying coastal area of bogs, marshes, and rivers.
Th e Olmec ceremonial and political centers at San
Lorenzo (1200–900 b.c.e.) and later at La Venta (900–400
b.c.e.) provide evidence that there were local routes, probably
paths, for transportation from subordinate villages to the
center of each of these chiefdoms. In addition, regional trade
routes existed for the large-scale export of materials that were
produced in the extensive workshops discovered in the Olmec
heartland. Th e Olmec also imported from great distances.
For example, the major sources of the highly prized green-
stone were in Guerrero and the Montagua valley of Guate-
mala. For the large portrait heads and other major sculpted
works found at San Lorenzo and later Olmec sites, huge ba-
salt boulders were brought by land and water routes from the
Tuxtla Mountains, 60 miles from San Lorenzo. In this early
trade and exchange network, human carriers walked across
land or used canoes along the river systems, leaving behind
very little physical evidence, even though their routes were
later used by other chiefdoms.
Farther afi eld there is evidence of interaction among the
Olmec and the peoples of central Mexico, Oaxaca, and the
Maya region. While this points to the possibility of formal
roadways extending from the Olmec center, other trade re-
lationships existed beyond the Olmec sphere, for example
among elite families in the Tehuacán and Oaxaca valleys. Ar-
chaeological investigations have provided evidence that elite
families of the Tehuacán and Oaxaca valleys were importing
goods from other regions. Th e pottery styles of these two ar-
eas were similar, also an indicator of contact. Th e relationship
between these valleys gained importance because of the ob-
sidian trade through the Cuicatlan Cañada. Obsidian, used to
make tools and weapons, was being brought from Otumba, at
a great distance from this region. Archaeologists now believe
that Cuicatlan Cañada, a long river canyon running north-
south between the valleys of Tehuacán and Oaxaca, remained
a critical trade route into the Spanish colonial period. Aft er
the end of Olmec domination, widespread dispersion of Za-
potec pottery in the Tehuacán and Nochistlán valleys and in
the Cuicatlan Cañada refl ect trade expansion by the Zapotec
(600 b.c.e.–900 c.e.) into these regions, probably using the
roads that were already in existence.
In many regions of the Americas archaeological evidence
of trade is all that remains to prove the existence of ancient
roads and bridges. Th e Chavín people (aft er 1000 b.c.e.) on
Peru’s northern coast traded actively. At Chavín de Huántar
ceramics of various stylistic traditions came from areas far
away. Chavín-style gold work has been found at Chongoy-
ape, far up the northern coast. Chavín textiles were used in a
southern coast burial at Karwa, some 300 miles from Chavín
de Huántar. As in early cultures of Mesoamerica, stylistic el-
ements become the markers for trade and indicators of the
existence of roadways. Also on the southern coast the burials
of the Paracas people (aft er 600 b.c.e.) indicate that the mem-
bers of the elite were trading over long distances for luxury
goods.
A survey of the Virú, Moche and Chicama valleys along
the northern coast of Peru has brought to light more than
150 ancient roads. Th e identity and dating of both formal
and informal routes were verifi ed by analyzing cross-cutting
through older roadbeds and by taking note of related ancient
structures, canals, and walls. Over the span of 2,500 years
roads in the Moche valley were cleared and graded, with
roads cut through small hills and with stone-faced ramps.
For certain distances the roads were curbed with debris from
road construction, or they were walled. Early in the history of
this area the Cuspisnique (500 b.c.e.) built roads exclusively
with walls.
Th e most intriguing of all the roadways throughout the
Americas are the Nazca Lines. Th e Nazca people occupied
the Ica and Nazca valleys on the southern coast, and their
civilization reached its height in the centuries aft er the birth
of Christ. Th e Nazca built a pilgrimage center at Cahuachi
on the southern bank of the Nazca River facing the Pampas,
where the lines were inscribed. It also can be surmised that
the Nazca people approached Cahuachi along ceremonial
roads. Th e Pampas cover a large area (130 square miles) that is
unique geologically. Light-colored stone is covered by a thin
layer of dark stone, allowing for subtractive drawing onto the
landscape. Th e Nazca Lines were created by removing the
dark stones to reveal the light ones.
Archaeological investigations at Cahuachi indicate that
perishable houses were constructed, perhaps tents. From this
it can be surmised that Cahuachi was not a permanent com-
munity but a place where ceremonial roads intersected. Ar-
chaeologists believe that entire communities of Nasca people
walked in processions along these sacred roads. Th e sacred
roads seem to have served ritual purposes and were not al-
ways thought of in a utilitarian sense.See also agriculture; borders and frontiers; building
techniques and materials; ceramics and pottery; cit-
ies; death and burial practices; economy; festivals;
inventions; migration and population movements;
military; mining, quarrying, and salt making; no-
madic and pastoral societies; sacred sites; seafaring
and navigation; settlement patterns; towns and vil-
lages; trade and exchange; transportation; war and
conquest.892 roads and bridges: The Americas