NORTH AMERICA
In North America a long-distance system of exchange was
developing by about 4000 b.c.e. As nomadic peoples learned
to plant and harvest, they began to gather resources needed
for a more settled life. Th ey traded for goods such as obsidian,
chert (a rock with characteristics of fl int), turquoise, copper,
silver, and the shells that served as a medium of exchange in
many regions, including the coasts of the Pacifi c Ocean and
the Gulf of Mexico. In times of drought, when crops oft en
failed, many native North Americans relied on trade to main-
tain a settled life and avoid a return to a nomadic, uncertain
life of hunting.
In Arctic regions the people depended on hunting al-
most exclusively. Th is life demanded constant movement to
follow herds of musk ox and caribou and track the seasonal
migration of seals and walrus. Th is lifestyle demand mobility
and restricted bands to just a few individuals. Game taken
in summer had to be dried and stored for the spare months
ahead, particularly because people’s diet consisted almost ex-
clusively of meat. Th e long nights of the Arctic winter forced
these groups to band together, and some historians speculate
that they may have entered a state of semi-hibernation in or-
der to survive the lack of food, heat, and light.
People of the Pacifi c Coast had access to a wide variety
of plant and animal resources. Settled agriculture was rare,
emerging only in southern California under the infl uence
of southwestern cultures that raised maize, beans, gourds.
To protect the valuable oak trees that provided acorns, the
people sometimes set planned fi res to burn off underbrush,
which was easily ignited by lightning strikes. Areas of heavy
salmon and coho runs in the Pacifi c Northwest allowed
coastal communities to fl ourish. Off shore fi shing was carried
out in canoes; the coastal tribes also lived off seals and walrus
that lived along the coast. Populations fl ourished where it was
easy to access the sea and where streams ran perennially to
their mouths.
Trade routes between the coast and the inland western
regions allowed the exchange of shells, baskets, acorns, salt,
fi sh, and clothing. Obsidian was a valued resource, and beads
made of clamshells were sometimes used as a form of cur-
rency. Eastern Oregon was an important source of raw obsid-
ian, which went into tools and spear points. By 500 c.e. the
artisans of the Northwest were greatly diversifying their pro-
duction of tools, fi shhooks, basketry, clothing, and weapons.
A highly stratifi ed population emerged along with important
signifi ers of wealth and status within the clan or tribe. An
abundance of food resources resulted in surpluses that came
under the control of elaborate hierarchies.
In the arid Southwest a network of trails linked the desert
basins and mountain valleys with the Pacifi c Coast. Knowl-
edge of pottery making, irrigation, and agriculture moved
along these trails, and many historians speculate that the ad-
vanced societies of Mesoamerica were an important source of
goods as well as technical know-how. Large structures known
as kivas served as centers for both religious activities and
trading. Th e southwestern tribes may have also held regular
market days, when traders could meet to exchange goods and
information.
On the Great Plains the most important medium of
exchange was the buff alo hide. Th e vast bison herds of the
grasslands were also a source of food, clothing, shelter, tools,
and weapons. In eastern North America, important exchange
centers grew along the principal rivers, including the Illinois,
Mississippi, and Ohio. Copper and silver were obtained from
the Great Lakes region. Appalachian tribes exchanged their
quartz and mica; fl int was a vital resource of Illinois and In-
diana; pipestone came from deposits in Ohio and Minnesota.
Th e villages of the Hopewell culture that prospered along the
Mississippi and Ohio valleys imported these raw materials
and then manufactured fi nished goods, reexporting them
throughout North America along the network of long-dis-
tance trails.MESOAMERICA
Owing to its antiquity and its absence of a substantial written
record, the Olmec civilization remains shrouded in mystery.
Stone fi gures, many of which were found buried at ceremo-
nial sites, suggest that Olmec society revolved around a cult
of jaguar worship. Rulers who derived their power from reli-
gious authority directed economic activity and physical la-
bor, which was needed to plan ceremonial centers and obtain
stone from distant sites to build structures and public sculp-
tures, such as the colossal heads that are believed to represent
rulers.
At the site of San Lorenzo, settled by about 1500 b.c.e.,
large gangs of workers quarried and transported massive
basalt boulders from 50 miles away to raise the ceremonial
heads that glorifi ed their rulers. Basalt stone was also used to
create elaborate irrigation and drainage systems. Th e Olmec
society at San Lorenzo was divided into farmers and rulers,
the latter claiming more fertile land along the banks of rivers
and streams. Th e Olmec elite imported obsidian from distant
points in Mexico and Guatemala and also obtained nodes of
iron ore, which was polished to a mirrorlike surface. Some-
time around 1200 b.c.e. violent events brought about the fall
of San Lorenzo. Th e monumental heads were damaged and
buried, either by outsiders or by a peasantry discontented by
their subservient lot.
One of the best known Olmec centers is La Venta, an is-
land of sand and clay surrounded by swampland in the mod-
ern eastern Mexican state of Tabasco. Among the products of
corvée (forced labor) were several giant stone heads some six
feet ta l l a nd a 110 -foot clay py ra mid. A rchaeolog ists specu late
that the pyramid, which has never been excavated, may have
been used as a tomb. Th e priesthood at La Venta is believed to
have lived in a fair degree of luxury, making them among the
Western Hemisphere’s fi rst elite class. Burial sites, in some of
which even infants were given riches to accompany them to
the aft erlife, indicate that shamanistic privileges and wealth372 economy: The Americas